


Facing Forward

by BringOnThe_Snyazzy



Series: Great at Cop [2]
Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Anxiety, Backstory, Blood and Violence, Canon Autistic Character, Detective Work, Developing Friendships, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Forgery, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Justice, Matter of Life and Death, Multi, Slow Romance, Team Bonding, buddy cop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 40,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24656317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BringOnThe_Snyazzy/pseuds/BringOnThe_Snyazzy
Summary: For Percy and Ramsey, life goes on more normally than they could hope for, especially after the insanity of their last case. However, they can't catch a break for too long when they see some familiar faces in a high-speed car chase. As they pick up a jewelry theft case, they have to decide on what risks they should take.
Relationships: Fred "Car Crash" Donaldson & Giovanni Potage, Molly Blyndeff & Giovanni Potage, Molly Blyndeff & Percival "Percy" King, Percival "Percy" King & Ramsey Murdoch, Percival "Percy" King/Ramsey Murdoch
Series: Great at Cop [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782286
Comments: 67
Kudos: 107





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. This is a continuation, so I recommend reading the first story in this series if you haven't already. Cheers.  
> I am EXCITE because this was very fun to create.

The pen hovered just above the surface of the smooth bristol sketch pad. It was a nice sepia permanent ink pen, decent brand, its 05 felt tip shaking. The tip briefly touched the paper, leaving a miniscule dash before Ramsey quickly drew it back. He released a stream of air between his teeth, his lungs throbbing. No matter how much he gasped for air, he felt like he couldn’t get enough, each breath like a sip of tepid tap water on an unbearably hot day. The pen clattered on his desk as he capped it and tossed it away. The pencil outlines stared lifelessly at the ceiling, so he closed the sketchbook too.

He stood at the window with a fist to his forehead as his heart pounded doggedly on. Why was it so dang hard? He had done the same thing hundreds of times before. It was his first art commission after getting out of prison three weeks ago. A few college kids wanted drawings of their tabletop RPG characters, which were actually pretty cool. Ramsey had worked on the sketches with vigor a few days earlier, but when the inking and coloring came, he got cold feet.

He collapsed on the singular couch in the small front room, only a few steps away from his work desk. The apartment was pretty nice, perfect for one person, but ever since he moved in, it felt strange. Like he was borrowing it from a distant family member. He was almost too afraid to touch anything in fear of ruining it and disappointing the owner. But he _was_ the owner. Kind of. Technically, the state owned it. Maybe that’s why it didn’t feel like a home. Maybe it was silly of him to even expect it to feel like a home. He hadn’t felt like he lived in a home for years. Years on the run, years by himself, years in college. Not even the years with his parents. Perhaps, those were the worst. Or, perhaps, he was just the common denominator.

Ramsey bit his cheek, trying to take deep steady breaths, but his frustration and worry weren’t having it. It was one of _those_ episodes. The ones he knew so well. For the past few hours, he felt like he was riding a roller coaster although he had only been sitting at his desk. When would it stop? When would he stop being like… like this?

“A few deep breaths, a cup of water, and I’ll get back to work,” he whispered to himself, hoping the commitment would push him to get the job done. He breathed in, held it, and slowly let it out, keeping a steady rhythm by tapping his leg. It was a little something he picked up from Percy, a strategy for keeping calm that his new therapist heavily supported.

It didn’t do much this time. The deadline crashed around and around in his head. Could he ask for an extension? Nah, that would be ridiculous for a smaller project like this. Maybe he could do some other things first like that load of laundry that needed to be done. No, he’d been putting off the real work all day doing menial stuff like that. He _could_ do it, it was just a matter of actually doing it. _Get it done, get it done, get it done, just get off the couch and get it done…_

A stately knock sounded on the door and Ramsey already knew who it was. Groaning, he rolled off the couch and stumbled to the door, tugging at the sleeves of his sweatshirt. It’s not like he wasn’t happy to see his visitor, but it was at such an unfortunate time. The handle was cold.

***

Percy heard her footfalls echoing on the walls of the apartment complex. She slowed her jog to a walk, bringing her breathing down as well. As of three weeks prior, she now had two running routes: her normal one and the one adjusted to take her by Ramsey’s apartment. She made sure to stop by regularly. The wound in her side stung slightly, but it was coming along. Soon, she would be able to run for real again without any limits. That day couldn’t come soon enough. Stopping by her friend’s door, she smoothed her joggers down and tugged at her shirt again. The tag wouldn’t stop bothering her, making her wonder why she hadn’t cut it off already. It was just one of those days.

Knocking, she stepped back, bouncing on the balls of her feet. The lock clicked, the door opened, and the Ramsey greeted her with a strained grin. “Heya, Percy.” His face fell to an impassable blankness as he looked away, shoving his hands in the pockets of his cargo shorts.

Oh dear. Perhaps she came at a bad time. She had noticed that he seemed stressed lately. Was she intruding? She tapped her thigh, words of comfort whirring through her head. _Just think of something nice to say._ Nothing good came up. If she discovered the nature of the problem, it might allow her to construct the right words.

“What have you been up to today?” she asked pleasantly.

Ramsey rubbed the back of his neck. “Eh, nothing much. Upholding the law, drawing stuff, wallowing in misery. The usual.” For some reason, that last item on the list didn’t come across as humorous as Ramsey meant it to be. It seemed too honest.

“Oh, yes. Is this your commission?” Walking over to his desk, she looked at the cover of a sketchbook. Pens, pencils, and crumpled notebook paper with scribbled out drawings were scattered across the desk as well.

“Yeah,” he sighed. Standing next to her, he flipped to a page depicting warriors joined around a campfire. “I’m getting close to finishin’ it.”

The amount of detail was astounding. “This is quite impressive,” she said in awe. Her eyes followed the delicate line work of the armor and gear.

“Hm? Oh, thanks. I’m not all that happy with it, though.” His voice carried an edge of apprehension and he stared out the nearby window, his face carved with worry. How could he not be happy? Percy genuinely wondered because the artwork looked wonderful. That, or she didn’t have the same attention to detail when it came to art.

She closed the sketchbook and looked back to him. “Are you… anxious about this project?” Her eyes darted to the bottles of pills on the kitchen counter. One was an SSRI that would increase the amount of serotonin the brain produced. The other was a benzodiazepine, meant to be taken for quick and short-term anxiety relief while the SSRIs were taking effect over a period of a few weeks. From the looks of it, neither had been touched.

He followed her gaze and then snapped away. She could see him biting his cheek. “Ya got me, officer.” There was a forlorn look on his face. It pained her to see him like this.

“Has anything helped?” she tentatively asked. He had met with a therapist a couple of times, but he never talked much about it. All she knew was that he hated divulging a stranger with his problems. She had really hoped it would help, but he seemed frustrated and uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. And when the therapist recommended medication, that was a whole new can of worms.

“Meditation is alright…” Ramsey trailed off and drifted to the bottles of pills, tracing the label on one with his finger.

Percy sidled up to his side. “Have you tried medi _cation_?”

He chuckled darkly. “Ya know, these child safety lids are really hard to get off.”

“Ramsey, I know you can get the lid off.”

He set the bottle firmly on the table. “Now, I know what you’re thinking. If I would just suck it up and listen to the guy with a P.h.D., then I would start to feel better. Well, I just really don’t like the idea of it.”

She stepped closer and took his hand. He looked away. “I don’t think that, but I do think that it’s worth a shot. Don’t you?” She couldn’t read what he was thinking as if she were trying to see him through a thick fog.

His posture slackened and he turned back, eyebrows knit with concern. “I just don’t know. I’ll be honest, I’m scared of what will happen. I’ve heard that some people feel really drowsy or get sick. What if…” He paced around the room, his hand slipping from hers. “What if I lose control of myself?”

“If it doesn’t work for you, then you don’t have to keep taking it.”

“I know, but,” he put his hands over his face, muffling the words, “what if worst comes to worst? What if I take too many or become addicted? Well, I know one’s not supposed to be addicting, but what if they’re habit-forming and then I stop and the withdrawal turns out awful? And then the benzo-something could be addictive...” He stopped, facing away from her. “Gah, I just really don’t want to end up like my mom.” She didn’t know much about his childhood, but she had learned an unfortunate truth. Ramsey never had a loving relationship with his parents, if at all. They had passed away when he was a young adult and he was glad to be rid of them. His mother, his last support, had been an addict and overdosed soon after the passing of his father. It was a viable concern as a tendency toward addiction can be genetic.

Percy’s lips tightened. It was awful, always one fear after another. She wished she could take it all away. She spent sleepless nights thinking about him, wondering how she could help him best. Her heart hurt for him, stinging, cracking. Walking to him, she pulled him in a tight hug. She could hear just how fast his heart was beating. Like a rabbit.

He relaxed at her touch and leaned into her, setting his cheek on her shoulder.

“No matter what you choose to do, just know that I’ll support you,” she murmured.

“Thanks, doll,” he mumbled, barely understandable.

They stayed still for a few minutes and Percy could hear his heart rate beginning to even out. “Why don’t we go out and do something?” she suggested. “I have the day off.”

Ramsey looked over her shoulder at his desk. “Are ya sure?”

“I’d like to get you out of the house. It will be beneficial for you to have some time to recharge.” She pulled away to look at her watch. 10:45 a.m. “We could go to the park. The weather is gorgeous today.”

He cast a conflicted look back at the sketchbook. “Mmm… Okay. But didn’t you just go on a run? Are you feelin’ up to it?” He lifted the bottom of her shirt a little to look at her gunshot wound, which was no longer bound in bulky bandages, just the large adhesive kind. Her skin tingled at the unexpected brush of his cold fingers. “Uh, um,” Ramsey stammered, his eyes growing wide. “S-sorry! Geez, hands off!” he yelped, slapping his own hand away with an apologetic grin.

“It’s fine,” Percy laughed, flapping her hands a little. “I’m doing well. As long as I don’t perform any extreme physical feats, it doesn’t bother me.”

“O-okay, let’s go then. To the park!” He hastily turned away and pulled on his tennis shoes, but she could still see the pink on his ears. She smirked at his dorkiness.

***

Why, why, WHY did he do that? WHY? _Just couldn’t resist, could you?_ he thought to himself as he followed Percy out of his apartment. He locked the door, taking longer than usual in order to compose himself. She was pretty slim and muscular. Honestly, he was impressed. _STOP thinking!_ He pressed his cheeks, hoping the coldness of his hands would counteract the heat he felt in his face. He wished that he could jump down the stairwell and land in the void.

“Are you coming?” Percy asked, looking back with a raised eyebrow. Her expression was mild and completely unconcerned.

Oh, sweet Percy. What did he ever do to deserve her? Shoving the key in his pocket, he caught up, making sure to stay behind her in case he still looked as flustered as he felt. “So, uh, what have you been up to lately?” He hoped that talking about literally anything other than what just happened would erase the moment from history, and with it, his embarrassment.

“Nothing much, really,” Percy sighed. “They haven’t been letting me do much at work, so it’s been quite boring. I had better heal soon because this is driving me crazy.” She patted her side.

Guilt flashed through Ramsey’s system. Every time she grimaced from the pain, she would cover it up with an easy-going smile, but she couldn’t hide anything from him. He definitely took notice every time she jolted back, wrapping her arms around her side. If only he had done something differently all those weeks ago, acted more quickly. He couldn’t help but take responsibility any time she was less than okay. But it was too late to change anything. There was nothing more he could do but patiently wait for her to feel better. It was all out of his control, and he resented himself for it.

After a few minutes, they had reached the park. The air smelled sweet, filled with the newly blooming flowers of spring. There were children on the playground equipment under the watchful eyes of their parents. Two cyclists rode side by side down the track and a group of teenagers played basketball. They all looked so happy, unplagued by worry and strife.

“Clockwise or counterclockwise?” Percy asked.

“Counter.” They walked at a leisurely pace around the track and Percy began to tell him about how angry she was at a movie she had watched the other day. Apparently, the gothic mansion where the murders took place wasn’t historically accurate in the slightest. The windows were rounded Roman arches instead of pointed gothic arches that were characteristic of the time. The characters claimed that it cost around one million pounds when in reality, a property of that size and age would have been closer to 3.9 million pounds, or about 4.89 million dollars. Her eyes glittered and she threw out her hands in exaggerated gestures. Ramsey liked listening to her and fed off of her contagious excitement. It was quite fascinating, forcing him to take his mind off of his work. She really was somethin’.

An hour passed by in a flash and they found themselves walking back to his apartment. It was… kind of nice to go outside with Percy. Perhaps his therapist was right. Physical activity and friendship, eh? Good stuff.

“So, what other stuff do you got goin’—” Just as Ramsey was about to cross the street, Percy grabbed the hood of his jacket, yanking him back to the sidewalk. Before he could choke out a protest, a beat-up van bounced over the curb just where he had been standing. He froze, his heart rate peaking. Glancing up, he saw the driver of the car was a kid in a yellow uniform with a dented helmet. Beside him in the passenger seat was… the pink-haired Banzai kid? In the back were a few more Blasters and a little girl in a bear hoodie holding on to their seats for dear life. He only had a split second to look at each face before the van sped away, swerving down the street, its occupants screaming.

“What the—” Ramsey gasped just as another car, a black sports car, barreled down the street after the van. A man with a rifle was peering out of the sunroof, taking aim. He fired with a bang and the bullet flew down the street, glancing off the edge of the van just as it turned another corner. The sedan skidded after it, nearly spinning out. The tires left black marks on the pavement.

Percy’s chest was heaving and her face was slack. “Did that just happen?”

Ramsey stumbled away from the road, gasping for air and clutching his chest. “The hell?”

“Such scoundrels, recklessly endangering the public!” Percy growled. “I must report this incident immediately!” She looked at her watch and dashed away, wincing as she went. She turned back momentarily. “That was a nice walk, Ramsey! I will see you later!” And with that, she was gone.

Ramsey was still trying to catch his breath. “See ya?” he said weakly. What was all that? Certainly another near-death experience to add to the list. Honestly, he had _way_ too many of those. He eyed the street carefully before crossing it, looking both ways three times. It was a little scary without Percy there after what just happened. He’d have to be extra cautious. He was beginning to wish that cars didn’t exist at that point.

He stumbled through the front door of his apartment, locking it tight behind him. Outside? Never again. He glanced at the phone sitting on the kitchen counter. Perhaps he’d shoot Percy a text just to make sure she got home okay. She really was going to kill herself in the name of justice one of these days.

***

_Last seen at 12:16 p.m. heading south on 32nd avenue._ Percy repeated the line in her head as her feet pounded the pavement. If only she had her radio on her, or even her phone. By the time she would make it to her apartment, the information would already be outdated. She ran harder and fire erupted in her side. She took the metal stairs two at a time, ignoring the harsh sounds that radiated, and hastily unlocked the door. Fumbling with the radio, she dialed the channel that would alert her superior.

“Sergeant Eros?” she gasped.

A buttery voice responded. “What is it, Perc’? You had the day off, didn’t you?”

“High speed car chase! Last seen at 12:16 p.m. heading south on 32nd avenue. A yellow van full of Banzai Blasters was being chased by a black sports car armed with a rifle!”

“I’ll get some units on it. Thanks for the spicy tip, Perc’. Over.”

Thank goodness. She sighed with relief. Villany would not prevail. Not today. She sat on the couch and tried to let the pain ease away. Her fingers drummed on her thighs. She was itching to be a part of the action, but she had a feeling that she would be on the sidelines for this one. How frustrating. Her phone, which was sitting on the coffee table, lit up. She checked the message.

_Did you get home ok?_ from Ramsey.

_Yes, I just radioed in the incident,_ she texted back.

_Gud._ And a thumbs up.

Percy grimaced and set the phone down, pressing her face into the couch cushions. If she had seen correctly, that boy was in the van. Giovanni Potage. And… Molly? What on earth was happening there? She wanted so badly to figure everything out, to bring justice to the thief of the Arsene Amulet and to one who would mercilessly open fire on civilian-filled streets. But alas, justice waited for no one. No matter. She trusted her comrades. She would just have to support them from a greater distance than she would have preferred. All she could do was hope that things would go well.

***

Ramsey squinted at the clock on the wall. 2:43 a.m. Maybe he should go to bed soon. Nah. He looked back at his sketchbook, now warmly illuminated by the desk lamp amidst the shadows of the night. He had actually gotten a good portion of the line work done and he didn’t want to disrupt his work flow. Even though exhaustion tore at his eyes and he could barely stay awake. After coming home, he had, what, been in shock? So he just sat down and mindlessly worked for hours. Had he eaten dinner? Couldn’t remember. Perhaps his reservoir of anxiety had been depleted for the day, but that wasn’t a strategy he was too thrilled about. Hey, it worked for that night, so may as well roll with it.

Popping his knuckles, he leaned back in his chair and yawned. Taking a step back, the drawing didn’t look too bad. Not bad at all. He scooted the sketchbook away and folded his arms across his desk, resting his cheek on his sleeves. Maybe he would just rest for a sec then get back to work… 

Sharp knocking banged on the door, jolting Ramsey out of sleep. It was so light. Why was it so light? He peeled his cheek from his desk and stood, swaying a bit. Mid-morning light poured through the window. Geez, when would the knocking stop? He realized that he wore the same clothes from yesterday. Oh yeah, he never technically went to bed, just snoozed away at his desk.

BANG BANG BANG.

Ramsey groaned and stumbled to the door, swinging it open. Who the heck was visiting at this hour? And so persistently? Of course. It was Percy. In her police uniform too.

“Eh?”

“You look awful.” She was bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Sheesh, a man can’t change the face he’s born with.”

Percy shook her head. “No, I meant that you appear to be sleep-deprived.”

“A bit. What’s this about?”

She strode past him in the doorway, absolutely beaming. “We’ve got an assignment!”

“No wonder you’re in such a good mood.”

“Well, actually, _you’ve_ got an assignment,” she corrected, toeing the carpet with her boot. “I’m supposed to, quote, ‘Watch over the appraiser guy while refraining from strenuous physical activity, and stay frosty.’”

Ramsey straightened his sweatshirt, glad that Percy’s terminal boredom would finally be alleviated. “What’s up?”

“You won’t believe it,” she said, handing him a file. He skimmed the report, mostly looking at the pictures of the jewelry assumed to be stolen. “It’s connected with yesterday’s incident. It’s a small world, the world of crime. Apparently, that Banzai captain wanted to steal more jewelry after losing the amulet in order to gain favor with his superiors. Unfortunately, they attempted to steal from the mafia in town.”

“Yikes.”

“The problem lies with locating the original jewelry,” she said, tapping her chin. “The mafia, being cautious, created several replicas of some of their finer pieces in order to dissuade any attempts of thievery. However, the original jewelry they had was stolen as well. It’s all one big jumbled mess of theft at the moment.”

Ramsey bit his cheek. He was kinda hoping to finish his art project before doing any more police work, but it’s not like he had much of a choice in the matter. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

“Excellent. Will you be ready to go in 15 minutes?” Her elation was bubbling over. He wondered if she ever got excitement from normal-people things like milkshakes or good movies.

“I’ll be ready in 10.” He quickly changed into his most professional-looking attire, slacks and a red button-up buried among the shorts and t-shirts. He shoved a pop tart into his mouth and chugged it down with a glass of water. The bottles of pills on the counter caught his eye for a moment, but he decided it would be a bad time to give it a go.

“Alright, officer, let’s get to work,” he announced.

“Superb.” She walked out the door and stalked to her cruiser, flipping through the case file. “I must admit, I am quite concerned about this. We may have a hostage situation on our hands. Those rotten Blasters have Molly.”

Ramsey tugged at his collar. “Eh? Who’s Molly?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, pulled out of her train of thought. “I suppose you wouldn’t know her. She’s a young girl that was taken hostage by the same group of Blasters during the theft of the Arsene Amulet.”

“And she pops up again? That’s quite the… coincidence.” He had a feeling this girl wasn’t involved in the way Percy thought. But hey, it’s not like he had any idea either.

“We’ve been given the address of a possible hideout along with a warrant. We need to search the premises for jewelry and determine its value.” She started the car and pulled out on the street.

“We’re, uh, we’re searching? Ain’t that a little risky?”

Percy waved a hand. “Yes, but I see them as pretty harmless, so I told my superior that we can handle it.”

Ramsey slouched in his seat. At least their last project had been more tame going in. Before the attempts on their lives, that is. It was tame except for that. He glanced at Percy. A smile graced her face and she hummed quietly. Was that Beethoven’s fifth? She didn’t seem to see any problems at all. He bit his cheek, staring out the window. Massive buildings flew by, melting away to reveal brick townhouses crammed together as if huddling for warmth. Didn’t seem like a very private area for a hideout, but who was he to judge?

Percy slowed the car, squinting at the house numbers before parking on the street. Opening the door, she stood and patted her belt to make sure she had everything. Ramsey wasn’t sure how one could miss a real-ass sword and a set of eraser cuffs. “Let’s go!” she declared once she was satisfied. Narrowing in on one of the houses, she looked it up and down before marching up to the door. Ramsey stayed close, although behind. Who knew what horrors they would find behind that door?

Percy took a deep breath and then rang the doorbell. He could hear it echo through the house. After a moment, a horrible wail rose from the depths of the residence, causing a surprised Percy to cover her ears.

“Would you get the door?” a sandpapery voice shrieked.

All was silent for a moment before another scream rose. “You’re closer, mom!”

“I can’t! My show’s on!”

“MOOOOOOOOM!”

Ramsey gulped and clasped his hands together. The situation was worse than he could have imagined. A shouting match of biblical proportions.

Frustrated stomps came toward the door and it swung open revealing, no mistaking it, Giovanni Potage. You could see the kid and his pink hair from a mile away. “Whaddya want?” he griped. He looked up and his eyes widened in recognition. He slammed the door.

“Who was it?” the terrible voice screeched.

“No one, mom! Just Miss Fuzz and Gerbil Man!”

“Who?”

“NO ONE!”

Ramsey shared an awkward shrug with Percy. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but certainly not this. She rolled her eyes and knocked, badge at the ready. “Sweet Jazz Police. Open up in the name of the law.”

The dying vampire woman yelled again. “Are ya gonna open up?”

“But they’ll get in the way of my crime things!”

“GIOVANNIIII!”

“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”

Giovanni opened the door again, this time with a cordial look on his face. “Hello, officer. I don’t believe we have met. Why don’t you come in?” Percy stepped past him and into the narrow hallway. Ramsey followed, not wanting to make eye contact with the kid. “What brings you here on this fine day?” Giovanni asked pleasantly. He could sweet talk all he wanted, but he couldn’t hide the terror behind his eyes.

“We have reasonable belief that you are involved in a recent theft and thus hold the authority to search your home in order to recover the artifacts,” Percy stated. “If you would stay in the sitting room here while we conduct the search, that would aid in the bringing of justice.”

Giovanni’s face fell. “Wait wait wait! How do you know for sure that it was _me_?”

Percy was stern. “We literally saw you on a getaway chase yesterday.”

“Ah, you were the guys we almost hit,” he said, putting a hand to his chin. “Sorry about that. In my defense, it was Car Crash that was driving.”

“That sounds painfully ironic,” Ramsey muttered.

Giovanni leapt away as Percy reached for her cuffs. “Hold up! You can’t simply capture the great Giovanni Potage!” He spread his arms and a pinkish steam began to fill the room, curling up the walls and rolling across the floor, cushioning the echo of his wicked laugh. “You’ll have to find me amidst the FOG OF LOST SOULS!”

The steam was so thick that Ramsey couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face. Sheesh, it was like a sauna, though it smelled quite nice. Rushed footsteps pounded toward the back of the house and a window creaked open. By the time the fog dissipated, Giovanni had vanished.

“Drat!” Percy hissed, fanning away the steam. “Yet another villain wandering free!”

The aroma made Ramsey a little hungry. In the sitting room, he could see the vague silhouette of a woman sitting in a recliner, her shape obscured by the heavy fog. She seemed enamored by the television in front of her. The light from the screen reflected off of the surrounding clouds of soup. “Hey, at least we can search without any interference,” he said.

“I suppose you’re right,” Percy said. “I’m sure that rapscallion will turn up again over the course of our investigation.” She began to head up the nearby staircase. “It appears the bedrooms will be up here. I think it’s a good place to start.”

Ramsey followed, trying to hold back his extreme discomfort. He had never just _been_ in someone’s house like this. It felt weirdly personal that he was looking into someone’s residence. It was only made weirder by the fact that it wasn’t a complete stranger, it was a familiar stranger. A few pictures lined the walls, a lot of them team baseball pictures. It was easy to spot Giovanni in each one. The team names were written in a cursive font at the bottom of each picture, most of them along the lines of “The Wolves” or “The Hornets.” One year, however, they were called “The Souper Heroes.” Heh, wonder who came up with that one?

“It appears they spelled ‘soup’ wrong,” Percy commented.

The first room upstairs was very obviously Giovanni’s. Geez, that kid sure knew how to leave his mark. Shelves were lined with baseball trophies and posters covered the pink walls. “Man, I sure wish I had a cool racecar bed,” he said with a longing glance.

Percy swept around the room, taking in the details. “We can go to the furniture store after this,” she offered. “However, I don’t know if they come in sizes that will support your height as they are typically made for young children.”

“Nah, I hate cars anyway.”

She peeked in a few drawers, stopping on one. “Aha! Underwear drawer. A classic hiding place.” She almost reached in, but she took a step back and looked at him with a shaky grin. “Will you do the honors?”

“Oh boy, my pleasure,” he commented sarcastically. He saw the glimmering of jewelry past the sets of hot pink boxers. Sticking a hand in, he pulled it out with a wad of necklaces, rings, bracelets, watches, and earrings. “Gosh, kid got everything tangled up.”

Percy held out a plastic bag and Ramsey dropped the mess in. “We can deal with the detangling at my apartment later. For now, let’s complete our search.” They didn’t have to look too thoroughly because the wad was the only jewelry they found period. The kid didn’t seem to have the strongest criminal instincts, hiding his bounty in one place and all, but Ramsey gave him points for sheer enthusiasm and commitment. A good kid, but too bad he was gonna get screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

After less than an hour, they had completed a search that satisfactorily met Percy’s standards. It was surprising, considering the height of her standards, but nothing was too difficult to find. There weren’t even any hidden panels in the walls or false bottoms in the drawers. Going downstairs, Percy wanted to thank the boy’s mother for her cooperation, but she seemed… preoccupied. That, and she didn’t want to risk hearing the demonic shrieks again. So she and Ramsey quietly slipped out the front door with the afternoon sun bearing down. It was nice to be outside. The air in Giovanni’s house had been weighed down with the strong scent of soup.

“You really think this is all the stolen jewelry?” Ramsey asked, hefting the bag in his hand.

“Well, that’s half of it, at least,” she replied, getting in the cruiser. “We also have to locate the stolen jewelry that the mafia currently has possession of and return it to the rightful owners. It’s all one big mess.”

“Sound like I’ve got my work cut out for me, huh?” He began trying to untangle the delicate chains choking each other in his lap.

“Yes, this will be quite the undertaking,” she said.

“What now?”

Percy shifted the car into gear and tore out into the street. “We catch some bad guys!”

“Ah geez!” Ramsey fumbled with the jewelry lump and decided it would be best to put it safely in the bag and leave it in the glove compartment.

“You see, we have ANOTHER address!” she announced.

“What for?”

“My comrades located where the leader was dropped off, but they also found where their van was parked.” She checked the address again, realizing for the first time that it was in a pretty desolate area of town. It seemed familiar as well. Had she been there before?

Ramsey leaned back and watched the scenery. “You’re really fired up about this, aren’t you?”

“You got me, officer,” she conceded, unable to hide her elation.

Ramsey laughed. “Was it hard sitting around while you waited to heal?” He looked earnestly at her, waiting for a reply.

“Awful. I can’t stand it when work needs to be done and I can’t help.” She turned on the interstate and noticed her partner tightening his grip on his seatbelt.

“You’re kinda like a knight. All honor and justice and everything. Even got a sword to match.”

Percy smiled and her expression softened. The image brought back fond memories of childhood when she would read the most exciting books about knights and princesses. More often than not, she would blankly stare at a page and have vivid daydreams about being the knight that saved an entire town from a dragon’s wrath. “I suppose so, but I don’t care much for honor. I just want to help people. Everyone deserves compassion.”

“You just hate injustice, huh?”

She cocked her head slightly, thinking. “To an extent. But I hope that I love the people more than I hate injustice.”

Ramsey slumped in his seat. “Is that why you bother hangin’ out with me?”

“Why I bother?” Percy bit her lip, mind reeling. Why would he ask that? She wondered if something had gone over her head because she really liked Ramsey and thought that she adequately expressed the sentiment.

“Well, maybe I think too much, but I wonder… Do you resent me for the things I’ve done?” He looked serious.

Would pulling over and slapping him in the face be too dramatic? Probably. “Of course not! I like you a lot!” she said, waving a hand to express her incredulity. “The things you’ve done are wrong, but you’ve already proven yourself to be a good person! I like you too much to ever be mad at you!”

Ramsey’s eyes were a little wide from her outburst, but he grinned. “Okay, thanks. Good to know. I worry sometimes, ya know.”

“But you worry  _ all  _ the time. I’ll be one less thing for you to worry about, anyway.”

Ramsey looked happy enough and warmth filled her chest. She always treasured the moments that she knew he was happy. Eventually, Percy pulled off the interstate, entering one of the older areas of town. Most of the buildings were small brick ones, all tightly packed together and housing the more obscure businesses. Percy parked on the side of the road in front of a small brick house surrounded by others matching it. She took in every detail, noting the tin roof, the window wells, and the fact that the lawn needed to be mowed. There were several windows with the kind of lock that could easily be broken in the state of an emergency. It appeared, however, that they weren’t up to code with modern fire safety ordinances. It must have been a very old house.

“Now this is the belly of the beast,” she said, nodding toward the yellow van in the driveway. “There could be any number of those fiends in there. We must be on our guard.”

“That so?” Ramsey asked, casting an apprehensive glance at the house.

She led him up the cracked cement steps to the front door. A worn piece of notebook paper was taped above the doorbell, the faded ink reading, “Doorbell broken. Will fix soon.” She rolled her eyes, touching the doorbell and mending it with a faint glow. When she rang it, voices from inside abruptly stopped. She heard stealthy footsteps approach the door and it opened, revealing…

“Mr. Donaldson?” Percy asked.

Fred Donaldson, a boy with curly brown hair and a bandage over his freckled nose, yelped in surprise. “Po—police lady? What, heh, what are you doing here?” he asked with nervous overexaggerated chuckles.

“I’m on official business, and frankly, I’m quite surprised to see you here. May I come in?”

“Hrrk!” Fred’s eyes flitted to the side then back to her. “Well, you see, I’m really busy right now—”

The jumpy behavior concerned her. “Are you in any danger?” she whispered.

“Of  _ course  _ not!” he squeaked.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to investigate the scene,” Percy said. “We have reason to believe this is a Banzai Blaster hideout.”

“Oh really?” Fred asked, his voice becoming astronomically high. “Somehow, I doubt that!”

“Worry not, citizen, for your safety is my priority.” She stepped past him to see two people in the small living room. Giovanni and Molly sat frozen on the floor, obviously in the middle of a card game. There was one spot open where Fred’s hand waited.

“Car Crash!” Giovanni said, leaping to his feet.

“I-I’m sorry! You know how nervous I get around authority figures!” Fred shouted back, stepping away from the door. “Also, it’s  _ Fred _ !”

“Molly? Are you hurt?” Percy called. The poor girl looked shocked, but she shook her head. “Be careful! That man could be dangerous!”

Giovanni formed a steaming ball of soup in his hands and Fred raised his shaking fists. Both were poised for a fight.

“Stop!” Everything went quiet and all eyes turned to Molly. Percy couldn’t hear anything except for her voice. “Just wait for a second! I know this looks bad, but please let us explain.”

Giovanni tried to say something, but no sound came out of his mouth. There wasn’t even the buzz of silence. Percy nodded to Molly and the distant sounds of cars and crickets returned. “Truce. I will listen to what you have to say,” Percy said. She left her sword and eraser cuffs by the door and sat on the carpet next to Molly, Ramsey following behind. The ball of soup dissipated and both Giovanni and Fred joined them on the floor. “You’re alright, aren’t you?” she asked, patting Molly’s shoulder.

“Yes, I’m okay. Thanks for asking,” she replied with a smile. This brought Percy some comfort, but she wondered. Did the girl’s father know about all this?

“What is going on here?” Percy asked patiently.

Giovanni raised a fist. “What do  _ you _ think is going on, copper?” he demanded, but he backed down when Molly nudged him.

“From what I understand,” Percy began, “you, a Banzai captain, have stolen expensive jewelry from the mafia in town, leading to that car chase yesterday. This has brought to our attention the amount of jewelry the mafia has stolen, information that we were previously unaware of. The police department has been receiving several reports of stolen jewelry, but we were unable to connect it to the mafia until yesterday. It is our intent to collect all of the jewelry, return it to the owners, and bring justice to all parties that have participated in the theft.”

“That’s not what happened at all!” Giovanni growled. “We’re not with those Banzai monsters anymore! We just use the uniforms because new custom ones are expensive!”

“What he means to say,” Molly cut in, “is that we would like for you to hear our side of the story and work together to some sort of compromise.” She flashed a well-practised customer service smile.

“Please, do tell,” Percy said.

Giovanni straightened. “Since you asked so nicely, I’ll tell you what really happened!” he started. “So I’m plotting, right? Just coming up with some plans, when I catch wind that there are thefts going on in town. At first, it caught my interest, so I looked into it and BAM!” He gestured wildly to show his frustration. “I find out that these guys are stealing from innocent people! They’re taking wedding rings and nice necklaces with reckless abandon! That’s not how villany works!”

Percy raised an eyebrow. The kid’s ideas were certainly intriguing, if confusing.

Giovanni’s face was impassioned with disgust and sorrow. “Villany isn’t about hurting innocent people just living their lives! It’s about rebelling against the system! Sure, if these people can afford nice jewelry, they’re probably doing well enough for themselves, but they have families and jobs and lives! Stealing from powerful corporations to prove a point is one thing, but this is entirely different and a DISGRACE to all villains of quality!” He had to stop and take a few deep breaths, his face turning pink enough to match his hair.

“So we came up with a plan,” Fred added.

This was already getting confusing. “Wait, you’re with him?” Percy asked.

He nodded with a guilty smile, then continued. “We devised a Robin Hood type thing. We’d steal the jewelry back and then return it to the rightful owners! Which is what we did yesterday, but we didn’t know they’d try to MURDER US! And then later on, we find out some of the jewelry is fake!”

“Yes, it’s been quite the roadblock,” Molly said. “We have no idea how to tell what’s real and what’s fake. And we’re also not sure how to find the original owners.” She rubbed her cheek with a distressed smile. “That might have been poor planning on our part.”

“Ah, I see…” Percy mumbled. It was a lot to take in. A strange respect for the kids in front of her rose. Vigilante justice always came on shaky footing, but it was justice nonetheless. She tapped her thigh. The whole situation also threw into stark detail how misinformed the police report was. It wasn’t necessarily wrong, but it wasn’t accurate either. Should she stick to a report that painted  _ everyone  _ as a criminal? No. Her instructions relied too heavily on black and white simplifications of the truth. Now that she knew everything, she decided to take the case into her own hands. She wouldn’t let the report dictate her actions, especially with this new information. If she fell out of favor with the police, so be it.

“This is certainly not what I originally expected, but I would like to extend an olive branch,” Percy said. “For the time being, we are willing to ignore all of your previous illegal acts if you are willing to help us in this case. I propose that we work together, return the jewelry, and part ways in peace.”

Ramsey looked surprised at the shift.

Giovanni laughed, extending a hand. “You’ve got a deal, officer! Are you ready to come to the dark side?”

Percy gave his hand a hearty shake. “Actually, it is you who are coming to the light side.” Both Fred and Molly sighed in relief at the way things panned out.

“First let’s clear something up,” Giovanni said, gesturing toward Ramsey. “Why’s  _ he  _ here?”

“I’ll do you one better,” Fred said. “ _ Who  _ is he?”

Ramsey laughed nervously as everybody’s eyes turned to him. “Well, first off, I’m not sellin’ you out, kid, I promise.”

“What?” Percy asked. They knew each other?

“I used to be the Banzai appraisal dude,” Ramsey said. “But I’m workin’ with the cops now. They’re putting my appraisal skills to use.”

“Wait, how’d you get out of all that trouble you were in?” Giovanni asked.

“Well, it’s a long story—”

“He saved my life!” Percy offered.

Ramsey’s cheeks turned a little pink. “Long, long story,” he said, gently nudging Percy. She took that as a cue to stop talking.

“How did you two end up here?” Percy asked, changing the subject. She looked expectantly at Molly and Fred.

Fred filled up his cheeks with air, then let it out. “Well, that’s a long story too…” A look from Percy kept him talking. “Actually, I’ve been a Blaster for a while now. Until we left a few weeks ago, that is. This is my house and we use it as a hideout sometimes. My parents aren’t home often.”

Percy didn’t know what to say. The legendary Donaldson boy was a Blaster all along? Ex-Blaster? Right under their noses? At least his villain nickname made perfect sense.

“And these guys are kind of my friends,” Molly sheepishly said. “I wanted to help them out.”

“You’re not a hostage?” Percy asked.

“No. Unfortunately, this life of crime has led me to hide the truth,” she said with a dark look on her face. “We helped each other out at the museum and I lied to you to keep them from getting in trouble. I’m sorry, but I did what I felt like I had to.”

Percy’s expression softened. “I understand. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

After a pause in the conversation, Fred cut in. “So, what now? What’s our plan?”

“We steal back all of the jewelry,” Percy firmly said. “You’ve been in their hideout, correct?”

“Yeah. It’s this old warehouse on the west side of town.” Giovanni dug a piece of paper out of his pocket and laid it flat on the floor. “I used some old blueprints and some hot tips to draw up a rough diagram earlier. The red arrows show the path we took to steal the jewelry and the pink glitter glue shows where it was all stashed.”

Percy examined the diagram, which was fairly neat except for the copious amounts of glitter. The red arrows showed a path from the outside to an inner office via air vents. “Do you suppose we should take the same path?”

“Uh, actually,” Fred said, “we made quite the ruckus and they chased us out of there before we were done. Then they threatened to kill us.”

“Because they couldn’t handle our RAW POWER!” Giovanni declared with pink steam curling up from his fingers.

“So they’ve probably moved it to somewhere safer,” Fred finished.

“Do you know if it will at least be in the same building?” Percy asked.

“Probably. Poor chumps lost a lot of money a decade or so ago, so they’ve been working on rebuilding their wealth. It was the only building we could find that they owned,” Giovanni said.

“Interesting…” Ramsey muttered. “Did you catch any of their names?” That struck Percy as an odd request, especially since he had hardly said anything.

“Uuuh, dunno! Didn’t think to check.” Giovanni gazed off in space and tapped his chin. “Car Crash?”

“Fred. And I have no idea.”

Ramsey stared intently at the map, brows furrowed.

“What about the jewelry?” Molly asked, looking at Giovanni for an answer.

“Don’t you worry about that,” Percy said. “We have it right now and will be doing the appraisal work tonight.”

“You found my top secret hiding place?” Giovanni shouted.

“Yeah. Love the color, by the way,” Ramsey said.

Giovanni flashed a pleased grin. “Why, thank you.”

“Will any more of your minions be able to aid in the search?” Percy asked.

“No,” Giovanni groaned. “They all have  _ lives _ or something. Work and school and stuff. And Flamethrower has a state cheerleading competition. So the only boys I’ve got are Car Crash and Bear Trap.”

“Bear Trap?”

“Oh yeah. That’s me!” Molly said.

Percy frowned. “Absolutely not.”

Molly’s face fell. “What? Why?”

“You’re a child. I won’t knowingly put you in danger. The rest of us are adults, so we can handle it.” Percy’s words faltered at the heartbroken look on Molly’s face.

“Hey! Bear Trap is just as brave and capable as my other boys!” Giovanni growled. “And more dependable too because no one else could make it tomorrow!”

“Yes, but what if she got seriously injured or killed?” Percy reasoned. It hurt to imagine the girl being put in the line of fire. “I’m not putting that burden on a child.”

“But with her epithet, she’s more stealthy than all of us combined!” Fred said.

“I’ll stay by her side 100% of the time,” Giovanni said, “but it’s more likely that  _ she’ll  _ be protecting  _ me _ , not the other way around!”

“And since we have to search the place, her power will be invaluable!” Fred added.

Percy thought for a moment, tapping her chin. The kids were right, but she couldn’t help but worry. If worst came to worst, she would have to take responsibility. She would do it willingly, but it would be a terrible responsibility to bear. The death of a child would be tragic. “Alright,” she finally said. “You can come with us, but you must promise that if things get dangerous, you’ll use your epithet and escape immediately.”

The kids grinned and Giovanni gave Molly a playful punch. “You’ve got a deal!” she said, the stars in her hair bouncing.

“We’ll make this work,” Percy started, drawing up plans in her head. “So how does this sound?”


	3. Chapter 3

After making a plan for the next day, Percy and Ramsey started the drive home. She was thrilled with how things turned out. They had a solid strategy and the new friends were a bonus. They had even played a few rounds of poker together. Ramsey ended up winning $20,000, but in the last round, Molly took it all with a straight flush, ending with $45,000. If they were using money, that is. They ended up using colored squares of paper as makeshift poker chips and the boys seemed to enjoy the heightened stakes better than reasonable numbers.

She wondered what her superiors and friends at the station would think of this whole thing, teaming with kids and all. It was certainly going against the grain, but it felt so  _ right.  _ She looked over at Ramsey, wanting to tell him all about the operation, but he was there for the planning session, so it would have been entirely redundant. He seemed content staring out the window anyway.

It felt nice to be back home again. She led Ramsey inside and sat beside him at the kitchen counter, taking a few necklace strands to untangle. They worked in silence, pulling chain after chain apart, their hands brushing together every once in a while. Percy could feel the slight warmth from her partner and liked to listen to him softly click his tongue whenever he came across a particularly difficult knot. Eventually, the mass separated into individual pieces.

Percy looked out the window, noticing the sun drooping lower and lower in the sky. Standing, she stretched her sore muscles, her side protesting slightly. She carefully moved a few pieces of jewelry to the coffee table. “Is it just me, or are you craving soup too?”

Ramsey blinked as if shaking himself out of a trance. “Yeah, Giovanni’s house smelled real good,” he sighed dreamily.

“What do you say to making some tomato bisque?” she asked, pulling a few ingredients out of her cupboard.

Ramsey moved the rest of the jewelry to the coffee table. “Heck yeah!”

Percy grinned and pulled out a pot with a clatter. “I could really use a break. Those necklaces have me going cross-eyed.”

“Doesn’t happen if you only have one eye. You should try it sometime.”

Swatting his arm, she flipped through her recipe book.

He snickered and looked over her shoulder. “You follow a recipe? I just throw stuff in and hope it works.”

“Cooking is a precise science requiring specific measurements and a steady hand to create the optimal result.”

“I’d say baking is a science. Cooking is an art.”

“I suppose I’m not artistic then.” Percy lined up all of the ingredients in the order the recipe specified, along with the corresponding measuring cups and spoons. She poured some of the ingredients in the pot and let Ramsey cut the vegetables. He was pretty good with the knife, although he cut slowly and cautiously. Even then, it was probably faster than she could have done. As she measured ingredients and put them away, Ramsey stirred the soup and watched the heat. She noticed that he kept his hands as far from the stove as possible.

“No cayenne pepper?” he asked, looking over the recipe.

“It’s not listed here.”

“A shake of cayenne’s good on everything. Even chocolate.”

“Even chocolate?”

“Even chocolate.”

She found the bottle in the pantry and tossed it to him. “Knock yourself out.”

After the soup simmered for 10 minutes, Percy poured it into two bowls and set them on the counter. She sat down and took a sip from her spoon. Mmm. Warmth spread from her chest to her stomach.

“That’s good stuff,” Ramsey said. “Maybe  _ I _ should follow a recipe sometime.”

“I’ll send you the picture.”

“Thanks.”

“Do you enjoy cooking?”

Ramsey shrugged. “Guess so. I like to make nice stuff here and there. Got pretty good at it back in high school. Sometimes a good meal was the only thing that made life enjoyable.”

Percy was mildly surprised. She had always assumed that he didn’t know how to cook because most of what filled his cupboards was microwavable or came in a can. “Did you cook often back then?”

“Yeah, I did everything. Parents were busy and I was old enough to take care of myself, so they just… let me have at it. I don’t cook much now, though.” A pause and he glanced at the stove. “Uh, what about you? You like to cook?”

Percy could see her shadow reflected in her bowl. “Yes, I do. A balanced diet is what keeps me healthy.” She took their empty bowls and started to fill the sink with soapy water, rolling up her sleeves.

Ramsey looked up as if he just remembered something. “Say, did we turn the stove off?”

Percy glanced behind her. It was off. She knew that they had turned it off. It seemed like an odd concern. “Yes.”

He stood beside her and rinsed off the dishes that she washed, casting another wary look at the stove. “Heh, that’s why I hate cooking when I’m home alone. Always scared that I’ll forget to turn the stove off and burn the house down. It’s always in the back of my mind.” He stared into the sink with a hard look on his face.

Percy bit her lip and looked up at him, her eyebrows knit in concern.

“I’m always scared that I’ll burn myself, too. Or that I’ll cut myself. Or that I’ll break something… God, I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this. What’s wrong with me?”

Percy could see him chewing on his cheek and she felt a cold lump sink in her stomach. What could she say to that? In the line of duty, she made it her job to help and protect people. But now, she was at a loss for words. How to help? She finished the last of the dishes and took a step back, shaking water off of her hands. “There’s nothing necessarily wrong with you,” she began. “You’re plagued with insecurities and hardships that many people will never know. But… I know that you’re a good person and I… I really care about you.” Was she getting a little choked up saying that? She swallowed, hoping that she didn’t say the wrong thing.

Ramsey didn’t reply. He stood tensely, hands braced on the sink. She couldn’t see his face. It was hard to gage what he was thinking. “Thanks,” he said, the word cracking a little.

From behind, Percy wrapped her arms around his ribs and rested her cheek on his shoulder blade. His ponytail brushed her ear. She could feel his chest expand and contract with every breath.

“You’re too sweet, doll,” he whispered.

***

Ramsey gnawed on the inside of his cheek.  _ Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.  _ He wasn’t even sad. Just overwhelmed maybe? But, under no circumstances would he feel self-pity. He closed his eyes. It was nice just to feel Percy’s presence without having to say anything. Eventually, he gently took her hands off and turned to look at the jewelry that waited expectantly on the coffee table.

“Welp, I suppose I still got a job to do,” he said, trying to put an ounce of cheer in his voice.

Percy pulled away, tapping her fingers on her thighs. “Ah, yes,” she muttered, moving to sit on the couch next to the coffee table. She began to arrange the jewelry in groups. The necklaces here, the bracelets there, and so forth.

Ramsey sat next to her and pulled a loop out of his pocket. The case file was sitting on the arm of the couch just beside him, so he grabbed it and turned to the pages detailing the stolen jewelry. The first one was a sterling silver chain with a small oval sapphire charm. The gem had excellent saturation in the picture. He quickly located the look-alike on the table and just as quickly identified it as fake.

“Gem’s too pale. And in the picture, it has the slightest amount of tarnishing on the chain,” he said, setting the necklace aside. “This one’s not worth much. In fact, the original’s worth is probably all in the gem based on the cut and saturation.”

Percy picked up the fake, observing it carefully. “The original is tarnished? Isn’t that a bad sign?”

“Means it’s well-loved, but it’s not necessarily a bad sign. Pure silver doesn’t tarnish because there aren’t any added metals, but it’s too soft and difficult to work with to make fine jewelry, so you typically add a bit of copper or nickel to make a sterling silver alloy. Makes it more durable. Only the really rare stuff has pure silver.”

“Fascinating,” she said, looking at the facets in the low-quality gemstone. “How much would this one be worth, then?”

“Eh, maybe twenty bucks. You could hike it up to seventy if you find a real sucker. It’s not a terrible piece of jewelry, but the gem’s heavily treated and jewelry has terrible resale value anyway unless it’s a real masterpiece.” The gem matched her eyes a bit. He quickly redirected his gaze back to the table. “Ah, next thing…”

Percy idly fiddled with the necklace, wrapping the chain around her fingers.

“Ooh, now this is interesting,” he said. The next piece was supposedly a pure gold bracelet, the chain featuring delicate strands of gold woven together to create an ornate design. Percy handed him the matching piece. “Yup, that’s pure gold, alright. This one’s the real deal.”

“I’ll bet you like that one,” Percy said with a smile. She took it and set it back on the table away from the other pieces.

He grinned. “What can I say? I just can’t resist the allure of gold.” As it became darker outside, Ramsey appraised each piece of jewelry, narrating his discoveries for each one while Percy watched intently. It took quite a while, purely for the sheer amount of jewelry there was. If only untangling them hadn’t taken so much time. At around 10:45, he was getting close to finishing. There were 53 pieces in total. 16 out of the 47 pieces he looked at were real, leaving 6 more to appraise. Sheesh, kid didn’t get a very good bounty.

“And this one’s fake, too,” he said, adding another ring to the growing pile of copies. “This one’s kinda nice, though. Whaddya think?” He showed a watch to Percy, Az Tech brand, but she didn’t respond. Her face was pressed into his shoulder and her breathing was slow, fast asleep. He had hardly noticed. Oh great. Was he supposed to wake her? Was he even allowed to move? She looked so comfortable. A little warmth clung to his face. He’d hate to disturb her. Keeping his movements subtle, he finished looking at the remaining pieces for a total of 19 real and 34 fake, leaving 34 real pieces to find at the warehouse. But what to do now?

“Geez, are ya one of those freaks that go to bed at 9:00?” he whispered. Of course, she had nothing to say, so he decided to roll with it. Kicking off his shoes, he stretched as far as he could to hit the nearby light switch without waking her. His fingertips barely touched it. He shifted Percy a bit then leaned back and closed his eyes. Hey, he was tired too. She was really warm.

***

Ramsey woke up, staring blearily at the ceiling. It was so dark he could barely see. Apparently, they had shifted to the point where Percy was nearly on top of him. Her cheek was squished into his ribcage. He lifted up her wrist to see her watch. 2:36. Perhaps it was time for a better sleep schedule. “Your uniform’s gonna get wrinkled, doll,” he whispered, pushing some of her hair out of her face. He could feel her badge digging into his stomach.

Woah. He drew his hand back. He’d never really slept with a girl like this before. Yeesh, why’d he feel like a girl-crazy middle schooler? Was Percy cool with it? Because if she was cool, he was cool. He couldn’t help but think that maybe he was getting a little too comfortable, but a part of him craved it. He had never realized how starved he was for physical affection until he became friends with Percy. Well, any affection at all, really. He’d never felt… so loved in his whole life.

He bit his cheek and tried to hold back his steadily rising heart rate.  _ Now’s not the time, _ he thought, but the panic clawed at him anyway. Was he really deserving of anything Percy gave him? Any attention or compassion at all? How on earth could she even stand to be in the same room as him? A sickening discomfort was beginning to prick at his stomach.

Ramsey slid her to the side as gently as he could and rolled off the couch. She stirred slightly, but didn’t wake up. He was breathing hard. He could hardly breathe at all. Undoing the top button of his shirt, he shakily paced around the room. “Just breathe,” he said under his breath. “You’re blowing this outta proportion. What’d I learn from therapy? Accept uncertainty? Wait, how’s that gonna help me now?” He tried counting in his head, tapping, but nothing was working. It was like a heart attack. His legs felt like they weren’t there anymore, so he sat on the ground beside the couch, putting his head between his knees. Blood pounded in his ears. He hated feeling so insecure. Hated it so much. Why did thinking about Percy set his mind into overdrive? Maybe he wasn’t as good a person as she was. She had said otherwise, but how’d she really know if he was a good person?

All the jumbled thoughts frustrated him, made him obsess over everything he had to lose. Was he going to lose it all? Probably. He’d be alone again, like he had been his entire life. He’d have to accept the uncertainty. His whole body shook.

“Ramsey?” He jerked his head to the left to see Percy sitting on the floor beside him.

“S-sor—sorry. Did I wa—ake you up?” Pauses peppered his words.

“Yes, but don’t worry about it. Are you alright?”

“No.” His voice was raspy. His mind was racing, leaping to irrational conclusions. But with Percy there, he was beginning to feel more grounded, pulled out of the battlefield of his mind.

“What are you worried about?”

“Everyth—thing.”

“Do you want me to stay here or to leave you alone?”

“Sure, uh—stay.” He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, feeling less and less like he was drowning.

She took his hand and idly traced shapes on his palm and across his knuckles. “Do you want to talk about anything?” she softly asked.

His heart palpitated. “Nah. My mind is a horrible place. You shouldn’t have to see it.”

“You tend to internalize your struggles. Perhaps sharing the burden will make it lighter on yourself.”

“Perhaps, but I dunno if I’m ready to talk.”

“Alright. I’ll always be here.”

Distant street noise ebbed and flowed. “Percy? Do you—do you ever wish you weren’t autistic? Because I sure wish I wasn’t me right now. Wait—sorry that’s probably insensitive. Stupid of me.”

By the faint light of streetlamps through the curtains, he could see Percy shrug. “When I was a child, I wished so badly that I wasn’t different from everyone else. To this day, there are times that I wish I could understand the nuances of communication or that I didn’t have strange habits, but… I love myself. It was a long and difficult journey, but I love myself and I can’t imagine not being autistic.” She shifted her gaze toward him. “The thing is, autism has become a part of me in a way that I don’t think anxiety will ever become a part of you. They’re both disorders, but they’re completely different in nature.”

Ramsey sighed. “So I just have to accept that I’ll be an awful mess forever.”

“No. You should learn to love yourself despite your anxiety and continue to work toward healing and self-actualization.”

“That’s a daunting task.”

“I wish that I could make you see yourself the way I see you.”

“You think too highly of me.”

Percy grabbed his shoulder, looking earnestly into his face. “Do I have to spell it out? You’re intelligent, skilled, brave, I can always rely on you, you’re the only person I ever even talk to outside of work. It’s thanks to you that I’m here and alive!”

Anger rose in his chest and it tasted very bitter. The guilt was burning him, flaying him alive, and he was angry at himself. “How could you say that? I always run away from my problems, I have terrible coping skills, the only things I’ve ever accomplished are illegal, I’ve brought innocent people to financial ruin, and I’m mentally unstable! I could die and the world would be better off! I don’t understand why you’re trying to convince me otherwise!” He was shaking again, every muscle seizing up. The inside of his head was very loud.

“It’s because I love you, dammit!” Percy’s eyes were on fire and her voice was rich with emotion, bending under the stress of her high volume.

What? Oh, he didn’t ask that out loud. The pressure of the world crushed him and he was upset that he couldn’t hold back his tears. Percy hugged him and patted his back as he quietly wept into his arms.

***

It took everything Percy had to keep herself from crying too, but she took controlled breaths and held to Ramsey’s quivering figure. The emotions she felt were like fireworks in her chest. Loud and confusing and a lot to take in at once and a little beautiful. She felt… so intensely. A part of it was probably her hyperempathy. She just wanted Ramsey to be happy and to know that she really cared. All those things he said about himself speared at her heart. Some of the comments had a painful ring of truth to them, but she knew that he was better than he thought he was. Ramsey shook less, becoming more calm.

“You’re not a lost cause,” she whispered, hoping she chose a comforting combination of words.

“Thanks.”

“We should probably get some sleep.”

“Yeah.”

Percy stood and took Ramsey’s hand, pulling him up. It was difficult to see his face in the darkness. Exhaustion tore at her as she walked to her room, her limbs feeling oddly disconnected. She didn’t want to bother changing when she was going to wake up in three hours anyway, but she set her tie and badge on her desk.

“You sure?” His voice was still hoarse.

“Of course. Just get some rest.” She flopped on her bed and rolled over to give Ramsey some room. He wrapped his arms around one of her pillows and laid on his stomach, facing away from her. Smiling softly, she rubbed circles into his back and felt him relax. His breathing was slow.

Percy woke a few hours later not feeling very well-rested. No matter. Ramsey was still asleep, so she rolled out of bed very slowly and took soft steps toward the door. She couldn’t resist kissing him on the ear before she left. Before an hour had passed, she did some exercises, read through the case file again, and made breakfast. She read through the case file one more time just to procrastinate the inevitable. She really didn’t want to wake Ramsey up. He looked so peaceful.

She quietly entered her room and knelt by the side of her bed. “Ramsey, are you awake?” He didn’t respond. Oh no. She’d have to do it. Oh no. She gently took his shoulder, which was really warm, and shook it.

A smile crossed his face. “Heh. Mornin’.”

“It is probably a good time to wake up because we have things to do today,” she whispered.

“Okay,” he whispered back.

After about thirty minutes, they were on the road toward Fred Donaldson’s residence. The three “boys,” as they were apt to be called, stood waiting on the front lawn. The yellow uniforms that Giovanni and Fred wore now lacked the sideways B symbol. They were ready to rumble.

“Hello,” Molly greeted as the boys piled in the back of the cruiser.

“Good morning, Molly,” Percy said with a pleasant smile. The boys bickered over who would take the middle.

Ramsey raised a hand. “Sup.” Molly finally broke up the argument by volunteering to sit in the middle.

“Are you ready, my boys?” Giovanni said with a flair of drama.

Molly pumped her fist in the air. “I was born ready!”

“Does everybody remember the plan?” Percy asked. The boys nodded. “Then let’s go!” She sped down the streets—not over the speed limit, of course—and hurtled down the interstate.

“Wow, it’s kinda fun to be in a cop car without being arrested,” Fred whispered to his friends.

“It’s just fun to be in a car that you’re not driving,” Giovanni said.

“Hey!”

“Yeah, have you gotten that astigmatism checked out yet?” Molly asked.

“...No. Well, I don’t wanna bother my parents, okay?”

“Aw, don’t be afraid to speak up!” Giovanni said. “I can’t stand the thought of my boy not having his needs met.”

“What’s your insurance company?” Molly asked.

“Uh… The state one I think? It’s through my dad’s work,” Fred said.

“Don’t worry. They’ll cover it, alright.”

“How do you know?”

“I take care of my family’s finances. We have the same insurance as you.”

“Woah, you must be smart!”

Molly sighed. “I am whatever my family needs me to be.”

Percy glanced at her rearview mirror, only barely able to see her face. She shared a look with Ramsey. He found the conversation to be worrying, too, but neither of them knew how to act on it. Percy decided to add it to the list in her head. Once they finished their heist, she would talk to Molly in a more private setting.


	4. Chapter 4

Ramsey had a sinking feeling as the group hopped out of the car about a block away from the warehouse. The whole situation seemed too familiar for comfort. Was it what he thought it was or was he overreacting? The kids were huddled around Percy as she pointed at the map and made a few comments here and there. Everyone nodded and split into groups. Percy figured that taking Molly and Fred while Ramsey took Giovanni would offer a good distribution of power while allowing them to cover more ground. Of course, Giovanni was pissed to be separated from Molly, but after some convincing, he eventually agreed. Percy’s group would go in from the top while Ramsey and Giovanni took the ground floor.

“Let’s go,” Percy said. In front of them rose a giant warehouse, blocking out the morning sunlight. The metal stairs up the side were coated in rust and the doors were dented and beat up. A large window stretched across the top side of the building, offering little view of what was inside as it mostly reflected the surrounding urban landscape. A chain link fence topped with swirls of barbed wire separated them from the warehouse by two yards or so.

Molly cast a silence bubble and Ramsey climbed the fence, turning his hand to gold to push away a section of the barbed wire.

“Use them long, sexy legs!” Giovanni cheered as Ramsey stepped over the top of the fence and landed on the other side. Fred snickered.

Ramsey rolled his eyes. Kids. The rest of them clambered over the fence. Percy had to give Molly a boost up and Fred caught her on the other side. Before they split up, Percy shot him a long, determined look with the slightest edge of fear behind her eyes. Ramsey knew well what that look meant.  _ Protect these children at all costs.  _ He responded with a reassuring grin. Fred, Molly, and Percy snuck up a set of stairs on the side of the building. The boy knelt at the lock and began to pick it.

“C’mon,” Giovanni whispered, pulling a screwdriver from one of his pockets. They ran to the other side of the building where the kid began twisting the screws out of a grate about a foot from the ground.

Ramsey glanced around warily. “You’d think they’d have some guards or something.”

“Nah. It’s just the dad and his two kids. When they lost all that money, they kinda got kicked out of the ranks.” He set the grate on the ground and peered inside.

“That so? You sure you didn’t catch their names?”

“Why’s  _ that  _ important?” he asked with a shrug.

“I have a feeling I know these guys,” Ramsey said, looking over his shoulder again. “If they are who I think they are, then I really don’t wanna run into them.”

“If we’re stealthy enough, we won’t have to worry. C’mon!” Giovanni crawled through the vent, which was only a couple feet long before it opened up into the warehouse. Additional vents branched off above them and to the side. The space opened to reveal a large building with concrete floors and cold metal walls. Crates were stacked in a maze, all collecting dust. Near a garage door sat a black sports car and two motorcycles. Tools and miscellaneous car parts were scattered on the floor. Looking up, Ramsey saw ginormous fans and lights, although none of them were on. Metal stairs led to a lining of scaffolding surrounding the perimeter of the building where one could enter through a few doors on the second floor. Those must have been the offices. Where to even start?

Giovanni peered into some of the open crates. “It’s just building supplies. Sandpaper and wood and stuff.”

Ramsey walked past a small forklift and checked under a dropcloth. Pipes and conduit were tied together in bundles. “Yeah, I kinda doubt we’ll find it down here.”

“Let’s check all this last then.” The kid stalked to the car and tried the trunk.

Ramsey flinched. “Wait, don’t set off the alarm!”

“Don’t worry, I was just checking if it’s locked, which it is,” Giovanni said.

A grimy toolbox full of tools. A bin full of drill bits. Shelves of dusty cardboard boxes and table saws covered in sawdust. Half-finished furniture. Nothing was looking promising. Ramsey eyed the maze of crates behind him. The jewelry could very well be hidden away in one of those, but he really hoped that it wasn’t. It would take too long to search. A clatter cracked through the air and Giovanni caught himself from tripping over a pipe, waving his arms wildly to regain his balance.

“Careful, kid!” Ramsey hissed. Another clatter from the other end of the building made them freeze. Ramsey grabbed Giovanni’s sleeve and pulled him behind a wall of crates. The kid tucked a strand of pink hair behind his ear and peeked around the edge of their barrier.

Two figures emerged from the dark corner of the warehouse, striding around the maze of crates and equipment. They wore matching suits of pure white, making them pop from the bleak landscape. The light streaming from the windows blinded Ramsey, so he raised a hand over his face in an effort to see their approaching opponents better. They strode under the light, brightness crawling up their bodies until only their faces were left in darkness.

“So you’ve infiltrated our hideaway,” a deep male voice said. He took another step forward, his bald head reflecting the light. Dark glasses hid any expression he might have had. The belts of ammunition strapped across his broad chest carved the suit into white triangles. The rifles strapped to his back looked deadly. He reached for the pistol at his hip, cocking it. “We don’t take kindly to people messing up our operations.”

His partner stepped into the light, revealing herself to be a stocky woman with long black hair tied back into an elaborate braid. She had a face aged with sorrows instead of time. “We’ve fallen from glory once,” she growled, “but never again.” She glared across the room at them, snaking her eyes up and down their faces. She seemed… familiar?

At Ramsey’s side, Giovanni stiffened, subtly reaching for the bat strapped to his back.

The woman suddenly leapt back, grabbing her handguns. Her eyes were blaring with resentment. Wait, Ramsey recognized that look. His brain screamed and his stomach contracted with old memories of pain. Oh shi—

“You!” both Ramsey and the woman cried out at once. There was a momentary pause of stunned silence.

“RUN RUN RUN!” Ramsey shouted, grabbing Giovanni’s arm. The kid was caught off balance, but pulled himself up using his arm and dashed alongside him. He darted past crates, his heart palpitating, leading the kid as far away from the siblings as he could.

“What’s going on?” Giovanni demanded, casting wary looks over his shoulder.

Behind them, the woman’s shriek echoed through the warehouse. “If you are who I think you are, I’ll finish the job! I swear I’ll finish the job!”

“That!” Ramsey answered frantically. He realized that he had been running in blind panic, but thankfully Giovanni took the lead and wove around the crates back toward the grate they came through.

“How do you know each other?” Giovanni demanded.

“I, uh—” A gunshot rang through the air. “We’ve got some seriously bad blood and she’s after me!”

“Why would she want to kill you?”

“Have you forgotten what I did for a living? Use your imagination!” It looked like Giovanni had just connected the dots when Ramsey shoved him through the vent. A bullet pinged on the wall beside him and he looked back to see the woman climbing atop a crate, aiming for her next shot. He scrambled through the vent just in time.

“So you’re the one—”

“Yes!” Ramsey shouted. He turned the border of the grate to gold and kicked it in the vent, which allowed the edges to buckle just enough that it would fit diagonally. He turned it back to normal and gave it an experimental jostle. It was jammed in there pretty good. Wasn’t going to move anytime soon.

“I’ll kill you!” the woman screamed, her voice bouncing through the vent.

“Not today, jackass!” Ramsey called back. He ran as hard as he could, making sure Giovanni was right behind him. They climbed over the fence just as the siblings burst through a side door.

“They’re onto us!” Giovanni cried.

“We can’t lead them back to Percy’s car,” Ramsey said as more gunshots shattered his eardrums.

Grabbing his arm, Giovanni dashed across the street. “This way!” The kid turned back, hurling a roiling ball of soup at their pursuers. The siblings shrieked as their suits were stained red. The woman fell to the ground, wiping the steaming soup from her eyes.

“Nice shot!” Ramsey said.

“Oh, all in a day’s work,” Giovanni brushed off, continuing the mad dash through alleyways. He seemed to know where they were going. Eventually, he skidded to a stop, panting. “We should be safe here,” he gasped. Ducking behind a staircase on the side of a building, he braced his hands on his knees, catching his breath.

Ramsey leaned against the wall beside him, taking deep breaths. “How’d you know to come here?”

“Been to this part of town a couple times.” He walked up the stairs and stepped on the rail at the top, ignoring the green door, and pulled himself to the flat roof of the building.

Ramsey followed, accepting Giovanni’s hand to help him up. “What’s up here?”

“The Echelon of Evil! Which provides a great vantage point,” Giovanni said, gesturing to the distant warehouse. The siblings were dazed, looking around for any sign of their vanished prey. They ran down a side street, leaving Percy’s group the room to escape safely. Thank goodness.

“Not bad, kid. You make a pretty good villain,” Ramsey said.

Giovanni laughed and struck a pose. “Thank you! No freak who wears white in a workshop will best the great GIOVANNI POTAGE!”

Surveying the area for any sign of Percy’s group, Ramsey bit his cheek. He couldn’t see them anywhere. Surely, they heard the gunshots. Surely, they would try to escape. The siblings weren’t aware of their presence yet, but he had no idea if there was anyone else in the building. Ramsey wondered if their situation had gotten worse, but he forcefully pushed away the thought. Maybe they had gotten caught and were being held at gunpoint—no. Stop worrying, just act. “We have to go back for them.”

They could still see the siblings darting in and out of alleyways, working in the direction Giovanni had run. “Let’s wait for those guys to leave, then we can sneak in again. Better if we’re not spotted a second time.”

“Okay…” Ramsey tapped his thigh. Geez, if they had heard the gunshot, they sure were taking a while to get outta there. His mind was already working through a thousand ways Percy, Molly, and Fred could be dying.  _ Stop thinking for five minutes _ . He didn’t realize that he had been rocking back and forth. Instead, he directed his thoughts to what his therapist had told him. Accept uncertainty. Wait, that was terrible advice for this situation.

After a few torturous minutes, Giovanni said, “I think the coast is clear.” He hopped off the roof and ran down the stairs, Ramsey following close behind.

Ramey looked down every alleyway they passed, praying the siblings wouldn’t be lurking there.

***

BANG!

Fred looked up from the box he was digging through. “Was that…”

Percy could feel her blood crystallizing into sluggish streams of ice. It was a wonder her fingertips weren’t blue. “We have to get out of here.” The room they were in was a tiny office crammed with bookshelves and filing cabinets. Thus far, they found no jewelry. Stepping furtively to the door, she looked through the small window in an attempt to see what was going on below. It didn’t offer much of a view, but she could see two white figures darting past crates. Where did they come from? She couldn’t see where Ramsey or Giovanni were. Oh no.

Another gunshot. Molly froze and looked in the direction of the sound with wide eyes. “We can’t leave now,” Percy said. “They’ll see us.” She stood at the door, hand on her sword.

Fred motioned to Molly to keep searching and they both began to tear through drawers and shelves with fervor.

The white figures suddenly whipped around and charged out one of the side doors. “Let’s move,” Percy said. “We’ll probably need your epithet, Molly.”

“Roger that,” she said.

Percy opened the door and slipped out onto the scaffolding, watching for any enemies.

“Aren’t you coming, Fred?” Molly asked.

“Just a second!”

“Come along Fred, we don’t have many seconds to spare,” Percy said firmly.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming!” Fred emerged from the room, stuffing sheets of paper in his pockets.

Although they walked on rusty metal, their footsteps made no sound. Percy opened the outside door slightly. “Drat! Now they’re over there!” she hissed. The white-suited figures were running around like headless chickens drenched in… soup? After recovering for a moment, they hopped the fence and dashed out into the streets. They must have been looking for Ramsey and Giovanni. For the love of all that is holy, how’d they get into so much trouble already?

Percy led the boys outside down the steps on the side of the building, climbing over the fence as quickly as possible. Fred pushed Molly up, then climbed over himself. “You two get to the car,” Percy said, tossing the keys to Fred. “I’ll find them.”

“We can’t just leave you alone!” Molly protested.

“I might know where to find them,” Fred offered. “Giovanni showed me a place that gives you a good vantage point of the area.” He pointed. “It’s just down that way and then to the second right then left and up some steps.”

“Alright, but  _ please  _ go to the car. I can’t have you two getting hurt,” Percy said, drawing her sword.

Fred nodded and Molly reluctantly followed him away. Percy dashed down the alleyway across the street, remaining vigilant. Was that the right she needed to take? She rounded the corner and—

“Oof!” She fell to the ground, landing hard on her rear, the sword clattering. In front of her was Ramsey, who was also on the ground, and Giovanni holding back laughter.

“Nice to bump into you again, officer,” Ramsey groaned. He stood and offered a hand, pulling Percy up. “You alright, doll?”

“Yes, and it’s good to see you too,” she said between clenched teeth. “Let’s get out of here before—”

BANG! A brick on the wall beside her exploded into dust. “Before that?” Giovanni asked.

“Come on!” Percy brushed her fingers on the wall, mending it as they dashed back down the alley.

Behind them, the two figures shouted. Percy, with her sword in a defensive position, could now see that one was a tall, buff man and the other was a short woman. “Get back here, Murdoch!” the woman screeched.

Just as they darted into the street and Percy cleared the alley, two towers shot up from the ground, blocking the alley and their pursuers.

“She got an epithet?” the man bellowed. Percy glanced back to see the woman taking aim in the small gap between the brick wall and the tower. The shot fired, but the bullet hung suspended in midair.

“What the hell?” the woman yelled.

Percy grinned as the man and woman cussed them out from behind their brick and mortar prison. They all dove into the car and had barely gotten their seatbelts on before Percy hit the gas and tore down the street. They drove in stunned silence until they were well away from the warehouse. She had almost forgotten how to breathe, her shoulders rigid.

“ _ That  _ was insane!” Molly finally said.

Fred nodded. “Agreed.”

“What a thrill!” Giovanni said with a grandiose laugh.

“Did you guys find anything?” Ramsey asked.

Percy’s previous resolve slipped away. Was their mission a pointless risk? “No. And from the sounds of it, you didn’t either?”

“Nah. Just tools and stuff. I wonder if they do construction as a side gig.”

“ _ I _ found something!” Everyone turned to Fred. “I didn’t find any jewelry,” he began, “but I found a note with instructions.” He pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket and held it close to his eyes. “It’s an address with directions to move the supplies, by which I assume it means the jewelry because it had to be moved by yesterday. Says they can’t afford any more losses.”

Percy couldn’t hold back a grin as she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex. “That’s excellent! We should take some time to rest and recuperate and then act on that new lead. I’ll make lunch for all of you.”

Giovanni stepped out of the car and slapped Fred on the back when he came out. “Good work, Car Crash! You’re becoming a fine villain!”

“Well it’s all because I have a great boss,” Fred said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

Giovanni clambered up the metal steps after Percy. “You know who’s a great villain? Ramsey! He’s already got a ton of rivals!”

Ramsey froze.

“You’ve got rivals?” Molly asked. “That’s incredible that you’re well-established enough in the market to have such significant competition!”

Ramsey chewed on his cheek. “Eh, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Trust me.”

Percy unlocked the door to her apartment, all the boys piling in after her. A rival? Ah, it must have been with those two people at the warehouse. Perhaps that was why he seemed nervous about the whole thing.

“I wanna know about your rival!” Molly said with excitement.

“It was that mafia lady!” Giovanni said.

Ramsey nodded. “Good news. I know their names now. It’s Cecilia and Anton Abbandonato.”

“Is it a similar situation to that of Zora?” Percy asked.

Ramsey shut the door behind him, staring off at the floor. “No, no. Zora wants my bounty.  _ This  _ woman wants my head.”

“What great act of villainy did you perform to warrant a death sentence?” Giovanni asked in awe.

“Yeah, tell us about your escapades as a bad guy!” Fred jumped in.

Percy tried to read what Ramsey was thinking. Was he getting uncomfortable? He seemed suddenly distant and she assumed that he wouldn’t like the attention.

She decided it would be best to calm the boys down, but before she could say anything, Ramsey answered, pointing to his face. “Well, for starters, she’s the one that did this to me.”

***

“Out of curiosity, how  _ did  _ you lose your eye?” Molly asked with an air of childlike inquisitiveness.

The whole group gazed at him expectantly, waiting for some sort of response. Ramsey hadn’t realized his mouth had been hanging open, so he came up with a few filler words while he decided on what to actually say. How much did he want them to know?

“It’s, um, it’s a long story…” His tongue felt numb. Should he tell them? He didn’t mind them knowing what had happened, but that day—it changed him. It was the darkest day from the darkest time of his life and he wasn’t sure if he wanted them to know the deepest darkest just yet. “And it was uh, a long time ago, too—”

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to,” Percy said, cutting in.  _ Thank you Percy for buying me more time!  _ He wanted to hug her, but resisted the urge.

Molly snapped out of her intent gaze at him and clasped her hands together. “Y-yeah. I’m sorry for asking. I understand if I’m prying too much.”

Ramsey casually waved a hand, both to assuage their worry and hide his own. “Nah, nah, I’ll tell ya.”

Percy and Molly looked mildly surprised, leaning forward. Giovanni and Fred waited attentively. Despite the very personal nature of the subject, they couldn’t cover up how interested they were.

He rubbed the back of his neck, aware of all the attention on him. If they wanted a story, he’d give them a story, albeit a simplified version. He’d tone down some of the gory details, blur some of the incriminating ones, and completely cut out any notion that he had ever experienced mental or emotional trauma. They didn’t need to know about that at the moment. He cleared his throat and began with his overly vague tale of woe. “My memory ain’t what it used to be, but this all happened back in my early twenties or somethin’…”

But he remembered it. Perfectly. Every detail was branded in his mind. How could he possibly forget?


	5. Chapter 5

12 Years Earlier

***

Ramsey waited outside the elevator and checked his watch, loosening his red tie slightly. The meeting had only taken twenty minutes. Not bad. While he stood, he looked around at the grandeur of the Az Tech building. Marble floors stretched almost infinitely, potted plants stood in every corner, and the 15-foot tall windows allowed one to gaze out over the sprawling city below. Red velvet armchairs gathered in sitting areas, adorned with gold accents. He liked those, but he knew they were gilded with cheap alloys.

The elevator dinged and he stepped in. Only one other person stood in there, a woman who glanced at him before directing her gaze back to the floor, nervously adjusting the sleeves of her white dress. Ramsey leaned against the wall in the opposite corner. Man, did he ever want to get out of there. Just having made the biggest sale of his career yet, he was a little wary about the whole thing.

The company, Az Tech, made luxury watches that sold for thousands of dollars, and that was one of the cheaper models. Their whole gimmick was that they were the leaders of the watch industry, always making something new and fresh, technologically advanced with the highest quality material. They had classic analogue watches, sure, but some of their more recent creations allowed the user to listen to music through wireless earbuds. Carved on the back of each and every watch was a sleek graphic of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl with a wide devilish grin.

The feathered serpent was pictured nearly everywhere in the building, showing off his array of teeth. Ramsey didn’t like it all that much. The back of his neck prickled as if he could feel the glare of the creature. Sure enough, the logo was on the elevator wall behind him. He whipped his head back around to look at the doors. He couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Sheesh, why was he scared of a stupid logo? It’s just… It’s like the thing _knew_.

The company was pleased as punch when some young guy offered to sell them a buttload of pure gold, all ethically sourced and at the right price. He could hear them laughing behind his back. _Dumb kid has no idea how much this is actually worth!_ Personally, he gained satisfaction knowing that in reality, they were the dumb ones. They fell for the low price and would wake up the next day to a delivery truck full of dirt. Yeah, they were mocking him now, but that’s what made the whole con all the more believable. He was just some kid freshly graduated from college not more than one year ago, still a little wet behind the ears. He pretended that he had worked with his uncle in the mines down south and wanted to sell a bit of gold to pay off his student debt. And they fell for it.

They had no idea. But he knew. And apparently, the dang dragon thing knew too. Ramsey flinched and rubbed the back of his neck. No way was he going to feel guilty now. No way. But yet, he could feel the eyes of the world boring into his back. He tried to reason with himself, rationalize the hundreds of thousands of dollars he stole. They were a rich corporation, they could recover. He was just a kid with no family, no inheritance, no job, no friends. Nothing but an art degree. Bitterness rose in his throat. He wasn’t going to feel self-pity and he wasn’t going to feel guilty, even if he had to force himself to bury it deep. After all, that’s what he had been doing his whole life. Yet, he couldn’t help but feel like the Aztec god behind him was judging his sins. Would he go to hell for this?

Ramsey shook his head, looking back at the buttons in the elevator. It sure was taking a while, but then again, it was a pretty tall building. He squinted at the bottom row of buttons. Huh, weird. He must have taken the elevator for employees or something, because the basement button was lit up. Oh yeah. Most people took the elevators in the center of the building, but he took the one in a desolate corner because it was the closest to the board room he had been in. He glanced at the woman standing across from him. She didn’t look like an employee, so why was she going to the basement? It would be a shame if her white dress got all dirty. It was pretty nice.

She noticed his eyes on her and he quickly looked away. The poor lady seemed awfully nervous about something. Her clenched hands shook, a glare was set on her face, and she kept tugging at her dress. Ah geez, did he stare for too long?

“Sorry,” he mumbled. He didn’t want to come across as a creep or anything.

She turned to face him fully, her long black hair obscuring part of her face. “You’re _gonna_ be sorry.”

Welp, that was rude. “Uh, excuse me?”

A muscle feathered in her jaw. “Do you even know who I am?” Her voice was low and saccharine, but it quivered with fury.

“Can’t say I do—” His eyes widened and he froze, his blood turning to ice. Breath got jammed in this throat and his mind went blank.

The woman had lifted the hem of her dress slightly, revealing a small sheath strapped to her thigh. In her shaking fist was a dagger.

“H—he—hey,” Ramsey choked. His heart violently slammed against his ribs and he took a step back, but that only pressed him into the wall. He started shaking more than the woman was.

“You don’t know me _at all_?” she hissed. Her eyes were alight with vitriol. “You’ll know me well enough by the time we’re done. The name’s Cecilia Abbandonato. Don’t forget it because it’s the last name you’ll hear.” She took a lethal step toward him.

Ramsey couldn’t breathe. There was literally no air going in or out. Pressure built up in his chest. In the depths of his panicked mind, he could vaguely remember hearing that surname before.

“Two weeks ago, you sold my family gold. Next day we see that it had turned into garbage. You _ruined_ us. My father had to declare bankruptcy. We lost our home, our status, everything. I’m going to kill you for it.” She took another step closer. It was a small elevator.

Ramsey couldn’t move. Couldn’t move. Blood drained from his face. He could feel how cold and pale he was.

Cecilia stood mere inches from him. She grabbed his shirt and used her shoulder to press him into the wall. With her other hand, she tapped the blade painfully on his collarbone. “Should I slice your throat open or cut your heart out? What would you prefer?”

He couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. Couldn’t even scream.

She raised the dagger to his throat. “Either way, it’ll be a great big mess for someone to clean up.”

That sounded gross. The thought made him sick. Blood pouring from his lifeless corpse. Detectives wondering what happened. Some janitor scrubbing the stains away. Oh God. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open expectantly, revealing the concrete floors and metal pipes of the boiler room.

He inhaled sharply, the first breath he had taken in the last few minutes, and grabbed the knife. It left a long gash down his left palm. Turning it to gold, he wrestled it out of the woman’s grip. She fumbled with it, surprised with the sudden change in weight. Ramsey flipped the dagger around so that he was holding the handle. Should he use it? Wha—no! He wasn’t a murderer! Would he be able to threaten her and escape? Well, he could use knives in the kitchen, but he certainly didn’t know how to fight. Cecilia, on the other hand, was probably trained. He didn’t trust himself to not mess things up. Worst case scenario, she would steal the knife back and kill him anyway. If he couldn’t have the knife, then no one could have it.

“Hey! So that’s your epithet?” Cecilia yelled as he jammed the dagger against the wall of the elevator. The blade buckled, becoming curved and bent. Useless. It clattered to the ground. Good thing pure gold was relatively soft.

Ramsey slipped from under her arms, stomped on her foot, and dashed out of the elevator, nearly tripping. Cecilia wailed and hopped on her other foot. She was only wearing sandals, so that must have hurt. In front of him was a large maze of pipes and equipment. There were water heaters and breaker panels and a whole bunch of stuff he didn’t even recognize. All he knew was that they would offer great places to hide. He took a sharp left, sprinting faster than he ever had in his life. Behind a giant piece of machinery, he skidded to a stop. He was breathing hard, body shaking, electricity convulsing through him. He couldn’t feel himself. It was as if his limbs were gone. He jerked his head around, looking for some sort of exit. There _had_ to be one. A door, a stairwell, anything. He walked deeper into the forest of metal. His hand stung and he remembered the cut. He pressed the hand into his pocket, hoping that it didn’t leave a trail of blood.

Behind him, he heard Cecilia’s feet slapping the floor. He held his breath, watching her shadow on the wall in front of him as he crouched behind the machine. A clank shot through the air like a bullet to the ears. Her shadow picked up some sort of loose pipe, hefting it around and giving it experimental swings.

“Looks like I’ll just have to beat you to death instead.” Her voice had a harshly metallic echo and she began to walk around. “I’ll bet the knife would have been less painful, but you brought this upon yourself. Would have been less work for me at least. But now I suppose I can take my time. Make you feel _every ounce_ of suffering my family felt.” Her peals of laughter were getting farther away.

Ramsey trembled uncontrollably. He was terrified to leave the safety of his hiding spot, but it was a dead end, so he forced himself out and walked quietly to the side of the basement away from Cecilia. He flinched at every tap of his shoes, although they were barely audible. He strained his hearing, but all he could perceive was the buzz and hum of machinery and the woosh of water traveling through pipes. Ducking behind some water heaters, he surveyed the surrounding area. There was a wall nearby. If he walked along it, there would most likely be an exit. Could he go back to the elevator? No, it would take too long and she would hear the ding. Where was she?

He felt a presence at his back before he heard her. “Checkmate.” He whipped around and leapt away, but the pipe was already swinging through the air. She brought it down in a wide arc and agony exploded in his head. The sharp end of the metal caught his skin. He fell to the ground, black and purple spots throbbing in his vision. The ground swung. He could see a blurry image before him. The woman in her white dress, drumming the pipe in her open palm, laughing with girlish delight. Not even one drop of blood spattered on her clothes. The ground swayed and he felt the coldness of the floor and he tried to scramble to his feet but he couldn’t get his balance. Blood and pain blackened the vision in his right eye, making him feel uneven. He pressed a hand over his face, but that only made it sting, so he pulled it away. There was a lot of blood. So much. He noticed blood bubbling out of his mouth too, so he spat it out. With it came one of his teeth. Cecilia howled with laughter at the horrified look on his face.

“You get what you deserve!” she shrieked, landing a swift kick to the gut. He curled around his stomach with a wail of pain. Cecilia raised the pipe again. “If only daddy got to see this!”

Ramsey was going to die.

In the distance, a door creaked open and footsteps echoed through the basement. Cecilia froze and set the pipe down, running off to somewhere Ramsey couldn’t see. A few voices rose, very far away. Must have been janitors or something.

He tried to move, but a jolt of torture spasmed through his body. “Augh!” He forced himself to rise on his elbows and knees, trying not to throw up. Once he was certain that he wouldn’t vomit, he pushed himself to his feet, leaning heavily on the wall. The basement spun and he saw doubles of everything, although it was hard to tell because the scenery was basically the same wherever he looked. The inside of his mouth was metallic and bitter.

The voices, whoever they belonged to, didn’t seem to notice him. Their sight of him was probably obscured by the plethora of pipes anyway. He stumbled forward a few steps, holding his head. The pain was soul-splitting. He glanced around as much as he dared, finally locating a stairwell. Falling after a few shaky steps, he decided to crawl. A waterfall of blood stained his suit and was bright on his white shirt. The blood pooled on the steps and made the climb slick. His hands left bloody prints of the handrails. Finally making it to the top, he pushed a heavy door open and stood again. The hallway was deserted. Where was the lobby again? Maybe he could ask someone to give him a ride to the hospital. He lurched, keeping one hand on the wall and the other over his face. A cacophony of voices and lights and Ramsey knew he found the front lobby. He pitched forward, looking around for a good person to talk to, but all the people blurred together into a mass of tilting and whirling shapes.

He heard a scream, a couple of screams. Why were they screaming? Couldn’t they keep it down? Hands grabbed his shoulders and pushed him to sit on the ground.

“You! Call an ambulance!” a voice shouted.

There was a man in front of him, the one grasping his shoulders. “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah.” Ramsey’s voice was threadbare.

“What happened?”

“Att—attacked. Woman—tried to—to kill me.” He was shaking so hard it was like a seizure.

The man carefully removed the hand held over Ramsey’s face. “Oh damn…”

“Is it b—bad?”

“It’s deep. Your eye is split open.”

“What? Is it—is it bad?” Panic was starting to rise again, sweeping through his chest. Ramsey remembered mirrors. There were big floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the lobby. They should be right behind him. He turned and scooted closer to the glass.

“Wait!” the man called.

Ramsey’s face fell. His reflection looked dazed, although he couldn’t see it very well. A deep gash stretched from his eyebrow to the top of his cheekbone, almost black from the sheer amount of blood. Blood dripped in a continuous stream from his mouth, running down his neck and chest, splashing on his clothes. It was difficult to see from how much blood there was, but he could barely see the remains of his right eye. It was cut in two and oozing.

He turned back, shaking so much that his muscles nearly gave out. “I sho—d—shouldn’t have done that.”

“Are you going to pass out?” the man asked.

“Don’t think so.” However, he was weak enough that he couldn’t hold himself up, so the man let him lean against his shoulder.

Ramsey held a hand over his eye, and prayed that the suffering would end soon. Distant sirens pressed at the edge of his perception and he gasped for air. Paramedics rushed through the front doors, quickly locating the problem. Faces whirled around him. Someone pressed gauze to his face and someone else pushed him on a stretcher and someone else told him that he was going to be okay. He didn’t believe it.

***

When Ramsey woke up, he was surrounded by a confusing scene of white. It was all fuzzy, but he could make out vague shapes of a window, a door, and the bed he was on. He turned and noticed his watch on a bedside table, so he tried to check the time, but he couldn’t quite see it. Just a blurry mass. Bandages were wrapped around his face. He felt pleasantly numb and drowsy, like he was floating. He noticed an empty IV bag above him. That was probably what he was blitzed out on. He tried to move, but the non-IV arm only flopped disappointingly. He tried to raise it again and it hung loosely in the air. Bandages covered his palm. The ceiling tiles danced around in his vision, lolling about. There was a pulse oximeter clipped on his finger, so he tried to touch it, but his fingers couldn’t move the way he wanted them to. Instead, he closed his eye and sighed.

What had happened again? He knew that it was awful, so he purposefully didn’t think about it. Yet, flashes of it still resurfaced in his memory, making him wince.

After a long while, someone came in, causing him to jump. Who was that? He heard the sharp footsteps and looked over to the right, but it wasn’t far enough. If only he could take the bandages off, he could see… A nurse emerged from the darkness of his limited peripheral vision. She looked over him in a detached, professional manner, her dreadlocks bouncing slightly as she came to a halt. “Do you remember what happened?”

“Yes.” His voice was fragile.

“Alright. You have a minor concussion, a missing tooth, a cut palm, bruising, and stitches. We had to remove the eye. I’m sorry.” She didn’t sound all that sorry, but it was probably her job to tell hundreds of people the same condolences every day.

His face broke into a grimace, making his right eye sting. He had a feeling that’s what happened, but it still came as a shock. Gently putting a hand to the bandages, his fingers brushed the concave of the empty socket. How do you move on from that?

She stepped to his side and slid the IV out of his arm, taping a square of gauze over the spot. “If you feel well enough, the police are going to come and take your statements. From what we understand, you were attacked?”

“Crazy woman tried to murder me. But yeah, I can talk.”

“Good. Do you want to make any phone calls?”

He shrugged. “Who would I call? My insurance company?”

“Family. Friends that are close by. You may be 22, but you’re still a little baby to your parents.”

Oh, that’s what she meant. That only darkened his understandably dour mood. “I don’t have anyone to call.”

The nurse’s first real look of sympathy crossed her face. “I’m sorry. Do you need anything?”

“No.”

“If you need help, just press that button. The police will be here in an hour or so.”

“Okay.” The door clicked softly shut, leaving Ramsey alone. He wondered who would have come to his funeral if he had died. Sitting up a bit, he looked around the room, struggling to take in all the details. There was a poster with the smiley faces to gage pain, but it was nothing more than a blur of colors and symbols he could barely identify. A window was on the wall to his left, but he couldn’t tell how far away it was. He turned back to the bedside table at his right, reaching for the watch. He missed. He missed again. Closing his eye, he slid his hand across the surface of the table until he felt the watch. Picking it up, he tried to see the time, but it looked strangely far away and on a flat background. He held it closer to his face, eventually seeing that it had been roughly four hours since he had checked his watch in front of the elevator. He was going to set the watch back on the table, but accidentally dropped it on the floor instead. Yikes, that sounded like a broken watch. He leaned over to check if it had cracked, but he just couldn’t see it and the movement made him dizzy.

He held his hand up to his face and felt a strange urge, a new instinct. It was the same weird feeling he had whenever he discovered a new facet of his epithet, but he hadn’t felt it for a couple years. Peeling back the bandages revealed a long, thin cut, not too deep. He wondered… Could he turn _that_ to gold? He had never turned living things to gold before. It took some concentration, but gold inched from his fingertips down the length of his arm, making it feel at least 100 pounds heavier. The cut knitted itself back together. He turned back to normal and the cut was gone, only the faintest indication of a scar left in its place. He could do that? Of course! That would fix everything! He reached for his face, but the layers of bandages stopped him. The eye… was gone. It was already gone. Gold wouldn’t fix that. If only he had known about this power four hours earlier. Dammit. _Dammit_. There was a cold abyss in his chest, so he laid back and hoped that he could sleep so that he wouldn’t have to live in his reality.

***

A police officer came to ask Ramsey some questions, and he answered them in the greatest amount of detail he could muster, including the woman’s name. Cecilia Abbandonato. She didn’t want him to forget, and by God he didn’t forget. Later on, a doctor spoke to him about some options. Due to the nature of his injury, he couldn’t get an implanted ocular prosthesis, which was where the doctor inserted a porous material so that tissue could grow into the prosthetic. However, he could get a prosthetic eye within a few weeks if he was ready. Or he didn’t have to. He just had to care for the socket and scar correctly. With his tooth, he could either get a bridge or an implant, but he’d have to talk to his dentist. For the time being, he decided to wear an eyepatch and worry about the tooth later.

Another doctor talked to him about the changes he’d have to adjust to living with one eye. For one thing, it would be more difficult to track movement or perceive depth. Or just have a full range of vision in general. The doctor asked him to fill up a cup at the sink. _Easy enough,_ Ramsey thought, but just walking to the sink made his head spin. He felt all out of proportion, stumbling a few times even though it was only five steps away. He had to try a few times to grab the cup and then he had to feel his way around the sink to turn on the faucet and then he splashed water all over his arm and then he finally filled the dang cup. The sink seemed to leap back and forth in his vision and everything else seemed flat. The doctor offered helpful tips through the arduous process, but they were more annoying than anything.

Finally, after a half day in the hospital, he was allowed to leave. They had washed his clothes, but he could still see the faint bloodstains in his white shirt. He stood at the door, hand hovering at the handle. He didn’t want to stay there, he didn’t want to leave, he didn’t want to be anywhere. As he walked down the hall, he glanced around, jumping at every shadow, flinching at every person that suddenly popped into his field of vision. Nowhere felt safe. He could practically feel the dagger at his throat. He kept a hand on the wall at his right to steady himself and to limit his blind spot.

“You got someone to take you home?”

He whipped around, seeing the nurse from earlier. “Nah, I’ll just take a taxi or somethin’.” Yet, he wasn’t too keen on paying a complete stranger to take him to his apartment. What if the driver ended up being some murderous lunatic too? If only he owned a car. But after losing the eye, he never wanted to drive again. When he got home, he was going to throw away his driver’s license.

The nurse put a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch. “You come from a rough walk in life, boy. I ain’t gonna let you take a taxi after all that. If you’ll wait ten minutes, my shift will be over and I’ll take you home.”

Ramsey cocked his head. “How do I know you’re not gonna kidnap and murder me, huh?”

“You don’t,” she said with such ease. “But I’m a nurse, so that helps my credibility.”

Ramsey laughed, the paranoia leaking away. “Sure, I would appreciate it.”

“Excellent.” The nurse ran off to finish her duties.

What? He felt numb, deflated. Definitely wasn’t expecting someone to go out of their way to help him. Did he even deserve that? What would happen if she found out that a con artist sat in her passenger seat? He shook his head. She didn’t need to know of course, but guilt clawed at his back all the same. He gazed down the hall to the exit. Maybe he could just leave and he wouldn’t have to worry about becoming a burden to this kind stranger who probably had enough on her plate already. He shivered, not wanting to face the world alone, so he waited. And surely enough, the nurse came back.

“This way.” She held his forearm to help steady him and opened the passenger door for him. The car smelled nice. Wisps of orange clouds stood out against the blackening sky and the road seemed to move, wavering in his vision. “Where do you live?” she asked, looking over to him.

“You know where Ceder is?”

“No.”

“You know that gas station on 32nd? It’s a block or so behind that.”

“Do you like milkshakes?”

Ramsey would have raised his eyebrows, but it would have caused too much pain. “What?”

“Answer me, boy.”

“Yeah.”

“Excellent. I’ll get you one. It’s on the way.” She had a broad grin that caught him off-guard.

This woman was an enigma to him. “Wh—why? You have nothing to gain from helping me.”

“I see a person in need. Can’t help myself.”

Heat rose in Ramsey’s cheeks and he was glad that it was dark. “Ah geez. You don’t even know if I deserve help. I’ll tell ya now that I don’t deserve anything.”

“You actin’ like I’m gonna regret helping you or something.”

“Bu—wha—you don’t understand.” He stared out the window and bit his cheek. His soul was burning just from being in the same car as such a nice lady. If she knew what he had done… All that he was guilty of, all his crimes… 

“I’m twice your age, boy, and I’ll tell ya that we old people understand a lot more than you think.” She looked at him for a moment with strong, intimidating eye contact. “What you see is a man that has to be cynical to survive alone on a battlefield. What I see is a boy that was dealt a shitty hand in life. He’s bitter and angry and has forgotten to look for good in the world. Maybe the world weighs more on you than for others, but you depend on yourself too much, boy.”

How could she say all that? And how could it ring with such stinging accuracy? “You don’t know me at all! I’m half blind and in some deep trouble and I don’t _have_ anyone—” He was going to say more, but a lump rose in his throat. He had to stop talking. The stress of the day must have been getting to him.

Her voice softened. “I don’t know specifics, but I can see you ain’t in a good place right now. If you can turn things around, you’ll find people. Good people. People that can build you up no matter how broken you are by your past.”

The words cut him to the core. Deep down, he knew she was right. He had chosen a dangerous path in life. Everyone he knew wouldn’t care if he died. For them, it was all about business, and what a cut-throat business it was. He grew up with nothing and used his talents to build something, but he was in too deep to get out unscathed. A part of him had always felt guilty with every con, but it was all he had left. Now, that guilty part stung. It hurt. He didn’t want to be a bad person, but he—he just… “How’d you figure me out so well?”

“Experience. Now, what flavor do you want?”

Minutes later, Ramsey happily slurped at a chocolate milkshake. Maybe there still was joy to be had in the world. He may have been missing an eye, but at least he had a milkshake. They stopped at his apartment and he wanted to say something. That, or he didn’t want to leave the car. He gazed out at the shadows looming around him. They terrified him. And what terrified him the most were the shadows he knew he couldn’t see.

He reached for the handle. “Uh, thanks.”

“My pleasure.”

“Wait. How do I repay you?”

With her arms crossed, she laughed. “I’m not a nice person for hire.”

He hopped out of the car, but turned back, his voice quivering from the despair that pierced him. Words spilled out in a frustrated heap. “How can I keep on living? I’m alone and I don’t trust myself to not screw things up.”

The nurse stepped out of the car and walked to him, pulling him in a hug. He was surprised, but leaned into her. When was the last time he had been hugged by someone? “It might be hard, but you’ll figure it out, baby. The future will always be waiting for you. At least smile for that.”

“But not too big, huh? I look like a pirate.” He grinned, showing off the gap in his smile.

She laughed. “You’ve got the sense of humor of a survivor.” With that, she patted him on the back and got back in her car.

At the door to his cramped apartment, he turned back and waved, watching her drive off. He’d never gotten her name… The inside of his apartment was dark, foreboding. He turned on every single light, inching into each room to make sure the coast was clear first. Feeling slightly nauseous, he placed his half-finished milkshake in the fridge and grabbed a knife. Just in case. He pulled off his suit and tossed the whole thing into the garbage without a second thought. He never wanted to wear it again. A pair of sweats and a t-shirt that had never been bloodied would do much more nicely. Triple, quadruple checking that each door and window was locked, he wedged a chair under the handle of his bedroom door. After pacing into the early hours of the next morning, he curled up on the floor and cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, I know a little piece of Ramsey's suffering because I'm missing teeth too. Four of them. And I had to get four dental implants. Teeth are something people don't often think much about, so I think it's cool that a character and I share a unique piece of the dental nightmare.


	6. Chapter 6

Ramsey finished the story, stopping at the point when he was released from the hospital. He didn’t want to talk about what happened after so much. Molly looked shocked. “Wait! The police didn’t catch her?”

“They had all the evidence they needed, but just couldn’t get at her,” Ramsey said with a shrug.

Percy looked horrified at the news, quickly shifting her gaze at the floor. “How did you adjust afterwards?” she asked quietly.

“I played chess with myself all day ‘till I could move a piece without knockin’ over all the others.” From the look on her face, he could tell that wasn’t quite the answer she was looking for. Oh, maybe she was talking about the trauma, not the being half blind. That, however, was a story for another day.

“Why’d you turn your eye to gold?” Fred asked.

He shrugged. “Eh, I’m just gaudy like that. Couldn’t resist.” What he didn’t tell them was that he hated the idea that the prosthetic eye _looked_ like a real one even when it didn’t _work_ like a real one, so he changed it to gold as a tiny form of rebellion. Same with the tooth, although it was probably less dramatic. He stiffly glanced at Percy, hoping that a look would be enough to communicate his growing discomfort.

Percy cocked her head in confusion, then mouthed the word “okay” when she understood. “Well, I suppose you’re all hungry,” she awkwardly said. “Why don’t you all help me out?”

Ramsey sighed with relief as all the boys flocked around Percy. He was just about spent for the day.

“What do you think about stir-fry?” Percy asked.

The kids cheered and then proceeded to bicker about who would stir and who would chop while Percy lectured them on handling raw meat safely. Eventually they worked themselves into a system. Giovanni stirred, Fred chopped, Percy put things away, and Molly measured the spices and oversaw the whole operation. Smart kid. Natural leader. Ramsey didn’t want to mess anything up, so he decided to sneak a quick nap on the couch.

Big mistake. Thirty minutes later, he woke to someone putting cold, wet, soapy hands on the back of his neck. “Oh gosh!” Ramsey jerked upward to a sitting position.

“What? I just washed the dishes,” Giovanni said with a smirk and a veneer of faked innocence.

“When I was a kid, I woulda got slapped for that,” Ramsey griped, but he couldn’t hold back his grin. Maybe he liked kids after all. When he joined everyone in the kitchen, he made sure to dip his hand in the sink water and pat Giovanni on the back.

“So what’s our game plan?” Fred asked through a mouthful of rice.

“It’s difficult to say…” Percy mused. “From the looks of it, this location is close to the warehouse, and I hate to say this,” she said, surveying their faces, “but I’m not sure if I should take you kids. It could be dangerous.”

Fred cocked his head. “But it was always dangerous.”

“Maybe we’re younger than you, but we’re not kids,” Giovanni said, clenching his teeth.

“You aren’t, but Molly is,” Percy said plainly

Giovanni shook his fist and a puff of steam rolled across the table. “Yeah, but she’s not some helpless baby! If it weren’t for her, you guys would’ve been seen at the warehouse! Those freaks must have been right below you. You coulda gotten shot if they heard you!”

“That’s the thing,” Percy said, putting her hands together. “It’s the ‘coulda gotten shot’ part that I’m having second thoughts about.”

Giovanni stood. “You know what? Why don’t we let her decide for herself? What do you think, Molly?” Molly shrunk on her stool, but he whispered in her ear, “Now’s your chance to be assertive.”

Molly’s lip trembled, but she bit it back with a firm look on her face, far too mature for someone her age. “I’m not naive. I know the risks and I willingly accept them. I want to fight alongside you! You guys are all I have left!” At that last sentence, she clapped her hands over her mouth and lowered her gaze, a sickening pain creeping over her face.

Ramsey was stunned at how powerfully she communicated her resolve. The kid was three times younger than him, but three times more dedicated than he was. That was strength. “Hey, what do you mean by all you have left?” he asked, turning his head to get a better look at her face.

The stars in her hair seemed to dim and lose their light. Molly suppressed a sob and pulled her hood up, burying her face in her soft sleeves.

Percy cocked her head, her lips parting slightly. “Are you alright?”

“No!” Molly wailed. Giovanni pulled her into a hug and she cried into his shoulder. Holding her, he glanced at everyone with a lost look on his face before taking her outside. Ramsey could see them standing in the stairwell through the window.

Percy was at a loss, her mouth trying to form words, until she looked to Fred for an explanation.

Fred, staring at his hands, spoke softly. “Things aren’t good for her. She ran away from home a few weeks ago.”

“The police haven’t received a missing child report,” Percy said.

“That’s… that’s the thing. Her dad just didn’t care or something. The whole thing has confirmed her worst fears that no one loves her. She was able to find Giovanni and since then, they’ve mostly been staying at my house, with my parents always gone and all. I drive her to school and make dinner for them.”

Chains tightened around Ramsey’s lungs. He looked out the window again. Molly had stopped crying and Giovanni spoke to her softly, pointing out things on the stretching cityscape. He knew how that girl felt, and he knew that the despair was devouring. “Good Lord.”

“I—I have to do something,” Percy stammered. Her eyes were wide, utterly shaken.

“She doesn’t want to get involved in any legal stuff,” Fred said. “She told me that she couldn’t face her dad again.”

“But if he does call the police and she’s found with you, you’ll be charged with kidnapping.” Percy ran a hand through her hair. “But if the dad’s arrested and CPS gets involved, she’ll be shipped off to foster care.”

Tears rushed to Fred’s eyes and he pressed his hands to his cheeks. “I just don’t know what to do! It’s not like I can just raise her! And if I fail her—” He fell silent, pressing his face into his arms over the counter. Percy stepped over to pat his back as his shoulders shook.

These kids were clinging to each other for dear life when just oneself is a heavy enough burden to bear. Standing, Ramsey walked out the door, softly approaching Molly and Giovanni. They turned to look at him, Molly’s eyes shining with desolation. He felt a strong empathy for her, hoping that their shared experiences could provide some semblance of comfort, but he wasn’t sure of how to communicate it. So he stayed quiet and stood by her side, staring out at the city. What could he even say? _Yeah, my parents didn’t care either, so screw them, right?_ Far off street noise buzzed in the air, distant honks and sirens rising and falling. The three stood together leaning against the rail in a comfortable silence until Ramsey finally spoke. “Family’s not the people you’re related to. It’s like these two fellas, the people that love you. Pain’s not going away anytime soon, but we’ll care for you, sweetheart.”

Molly looked up at him, wiping the tears from her reddened cheeks. She wrapped her arms around his waist, which was as high as she could reach, taking him by surprise. It was unexpected, but warmed his heart just the same. He patted her on the back, but felt a hard square pressing into the side of his leg. Molly must have noticed too because she pulled back.

“What’s in your pocket?” she asked, her voice still soft.

“Oh yeah. It’s a box of crayons. Forgot I had those. Like drawing?” He extended the box toward her.

She giggled, the kind of laugh when people are desperate to be happy and find joy in the absurdity that the mundane still exists after a storm. “Sure!”

***

The door opened and Percy turned to see Ramsey enter with Giovanni and Molly. The girl’s eyes were downcast, lips tight, and she rolled her thumb across the cutout of a box of crayons. She had been through so much at such a young age. Other 12 year old girls came from happy homes and lived carefree lives. Percy’s chest was burning.

“Molly, I—” Percy began.

“It’s alright,” Molly said. “I know. I’ll go back home like I’m supposed to and be a good daughter.”

“No. I meant to say that I will help you in any way that I can to get you far away from that store and your father.”

Mouth hanging open, Molly nodded, and then smiled. “Really?”

Percy knelt in front of her, looking into her deep green eyes. “Yes. You don’t deserve to be mistreated. You deserve to be loved every single day, not just sometimes or when it’s convenient. Every single day.”

Molly threw her arms around Percy’s neck. She stiffened, caught by surprise, but she hugged her back after deciding that would be a good reciprocation of compassion. “Do you still feel up to fighting crime?” Percy asked.

“Yeah!”

As they all finished their lunch, Percy walked through the different options in her mind. The present situation: Molly living at Fred’s house with Giovanni. However, that was already quite messy. It depended on the father never calling the police, which he had to do eventually if only to have someone run the store. And then, it was a heavy burden to place on the shoulders of two boys that were barely older than children themselves. Another option was to arrest the father for negligence, abuse, child labor, etc. Unfortunately, Molly would immediately be put in the hands of the foster care system. She would be passed on from family to family unless someone was willing to adopt her, which was difficult for older children. And then she could be whisked away from her friends and everything familiar to her. That would be awful. Of course, if someone in town would be able to take care of her…

“Percy? Ground control to Percy.” Ramsey patted her cheek with an amused expression on his face.

She jolted out of the depths of her mind. “Huh?”

Ramsey grinned and casually took her hand. “We were leaving? Bustin’ crime?”

“Oh, yes. I apologize,” Percy muttered, shaking her head. “Let’s be off.” They would have plenty of time to discuss things later. However, Percy decided to keep the situation in the back of her mind, just in case she came up with any new solutions over the events of the day. As they gathered once again in the cruiser, she noticed that the two boys regarded Molly with a renewed gentleness. Every few minutes, Fred would look into Molly’s face for any sign of residual sadness while Giovanni cracked some jokes. Molly beamed and happily held each boy’s hand from the middle seat. Percy’s heart softened at the sight. They were like a little family with two brothers doting on their younger sister.

Ramsey cast a glance at the boys before staring out the window where Percy could see him gnawing at his cheek. Really, the inside of his mouth had to be shredded at that point. She added a pack of gum for Ramsey to her mental list. He seemed to be filled with worry and a hint of longing. After all, he had never had a family, not a real one before. She was mildly surprised with how concerned he was about Molly earlier. They didn’t know each other all too well, but it made sense that he didn’t want the girl to feel the same pains that his early life had been filled with. Percy shared the same sentiment. No one deserved to feel inadequate or unloved. Tapping the wheel, she burned with the injustice of it all. Molly being overworked, Ramsey being neglected. Even Giovanni and Fred didn’t seem to have good relationships with their parents. Percy always felt like she had an optimal childhood, but even she felt inadequate and unloved when people, even her own parents, saw clueless, disabled Percival before they saw her—Percy. The real Percy. Not clueless, not disabled, just Percy.

But the people in the car around her. They saw her as Percy. A rush of gratitude made her want to shake her hands to expend some energy, but she decided it would be better to keep her hands firmly on the wheel. They never questioned her or scrutinized how different she was. Even if they noticed—which she wasn’t sure if they had—they just accepted her and treated her as a friend. Acceptance. That’s what she yearned for her whole life, why she was so terrified of becoming close to other people. At that moment, Percy resolved to do everything she could to make Ramsey, Molly, Giovanni, and Fred feel loved and accepted all the time.

Percy shook away the reverie. There was still a job to do. She glanced at the paper in her lap, noting the scrawled address. Constructing a map in her head, she planned out the best place to approach the building from. If she was correct in her thinking, this building was about four blocks from the warehouse and would be one of those old abandoned businesses, the brick ones with the storefront below and an apartment on the second floor. There were dozens of those in the downtown area.

Finding a good place to park on the street, Percy turned to face everyone. “Alright. If you’ll remember, the warehouse is a few blocks that way,” she said pointing, “and our new location is a few blocks that way. I’ve parked about in between the two, keeping a good distance to refrain from being spotted.”

“Hey, my special vantage point is practically in the middle of the two!” Giovanni announced with a grin.

“I think that we should check things out from the vantage point first and see when it would be safe to storm the premise,” Fred said.

Molly nodded. “And we should wait until it’s dark, if possible. Even if they’re all in there asleep, I could make sure they don’t hear us.”

“Excellent. Lead the way,” Percy said.

Giovanni practically buzzed with elation, a mingle of amazement and excitement on his face. “Ya hear that? Percy put me in charge! Come along, boys!” He fumbled to adjust his hair clip, unable to hide his enthusiasm. Molly danced along behind him and Fred gave him a friendly punch.

Ramsey walked beside Percy as the boys charged ahead. “This feels like a road trip. Almost forgot that we’re fighting crime.”

“You know, I’ve become quite fond of those kids,” Percy said airily. She waved a hand and the wizard towers from earlier sank into the ground just as the boys were about to boost Molly over them. Fred flashed a thumbs up back to Percy before the trio chased each other through the alleyways.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like ‘em too.” He held Percy’s hand, making her feel bubbly inside. “Makes me feel like I have friends or somethin’. Imagine that.”

“As do I.” She watched apathetic clouds lumber past the lowering afternoon sun. “A few months ago, I don’t know if I would have felt the same,” she admitted, feeling the warmth from his hand. “Ever since I met you, I feel like I can actually get close to people. I talk to Meryl more often at work. I actually had some fun with these kids. And…” She hoped her face wasn’t turning red. Gah, what could she even say? “And you too. I, uh, feel closer, I mean. Oh, that was word garbage.”

Ramsey laughed and gave her hand a squeeze. “I know what you mean.”

Percy couldn’t help it. She flapped her free hand vigorously even though she had tried to tone down the stimming.

“Heh. You’re cute.”

Okay, Percy’s face was probably red now if it wasn’t before. She hopped over the remains of the towers just to get rid of some of her energy. “ _You’re_ cute.”

Ramsey’s jaw dropped as he stepped over the ruins. “I, uh, gosh. Have you _seen_ my face?”

“I’m not blind!”

“Alright, but I wonder sometimes… Can you read that sign all the way over there?”

“Ramsey!”

He rubbed the back of his neck with a flustered smile. “I guess it’s easier to call someone cute than to be called cute, eh?”

“Yeah.” She looked around the maze of bricks around them, reading the sign across the street just in case. As she suspected, she read it without trouble. “You know where we’re going, right?”

“I’ve been there once, don’t you worry. I think he called it the Echelon of Evil or something.”

“I don’t think ‘echelon’ means what he thinks it means.”

Ramsey flashed a lazy grin. “Heck, I’m so dumb I didn’t even know that word existed ‘till now.”

“It’s a term referring to rank, so if you take an abstract look at it, it could indicate a physical high point.”

“Welp, whatever he calls it is good enough for me.” Ramsey led her to a narrow alleyway and to a set of stairs that crawled up the side of a building. He stepped on the railing and onto the flat roof, giving her a hand as she did the same.

“Finally!” Fred exclaimed. “You took foreeever!”

“It’s ‘cause they were smooching in the alley,” Giovanni teased.

Molly swooned over-dramatically. “Oh, to be young and in love!”

“Yeah, Ramsey called her ‘doll’ once,” Giovanni said.

Percy rolled her eyes, but Ramsey grinned in an irritated, mischievous way. “Maybe you wanna shut up, kid. I’d like to see if you’re still laughin’ after I turn your pants to gold.”

“Eep! You wouldn’t!” Giovanni gasped.

“Try me.”

Percy sat next to Molly and Fred as Ramsey and Giovanni chased each other around the rooftop. She could only hope she wouldn’t be hit by an errant sphere of soup.

“What’s the status on the target?” Percy asked.

Fred, lying on his stomach, squinted at the rows of buildings, pointing one out that was a street away. “It’s that one, right?”

Molly read the address in Percy’s hands. “Yup! You really should get your eyes checked, Fred.”

The building in question was, as Percy suspected, an old business. It would have been quite charming if the windows of the storefront weren’t boarded up. The sign, which might have read “PAWN,” was nearly faded beyond recognition. The windows lining the top half of the building allowed small cracks of light to spill through the curtains. It was completely nondescript except for the two motorbikes parked in the thin strip of alleyway on the left.

“Looks like we can’t go in now,” Molly said.

Fred leaned forward. “How can you tell?”

“Okay, I’m taking you to the eye doctor tomorrow, even if I have to drag you all the way across town,” she said, ruffling the boy’s curls.

Behind them, Giovanni collapsed to the ground, his pants having been successfully turned to gold. “Augh! This is so uncomfortable! Release me, you fiend!”

Ramsey was laughing so hard he had to brace his hands on his knees. “You sure? You could get a few thousand for that!”

“I’ll drown you in soup!”

“Alright, alright.” Ramsey turned the kids’ pants back to normal and dashed to hide behind Percy before Giovanni could tackle him.

“Glad you could rejoin us,” Percy said.

Ramsey had to catch his breath. “My pleasure.”

Percy patted his knee and stared back at their target. It was progressively getting darker, the shadows growing longer, and the horizon becoming stained in fluorescent orange.

“Hey, you could see the downtown library from here!” Fred pointed out.

“Yeah, maybe the rest of us can see it,” Molly said, nudging Fred.

“I _can_ see! Kind of. I’m gonna sign up for the summer reading program once school’s out,” he said. “They give you a box of cookies if you read 10 classic novels!”

Giovanni sprawled next to Fred. “And I can get a box of cookies for three bucks at the store.”

“But it tastes better if you read for it,” Fred said. “Besides, it’s kinda a given for me to sign up because I volunteer at the library every summer.”

“Really? That’s cool!” Molly said. “Can I volunteer too?”

Fred’s face split into a smile. “Yeah!”

“Aw, it makes me proud to see my boys breaking out of their shells,” Giovanni gushed. “But I could really go for a cookie right now.”

Percy stared back at the target, noting that nothing had changed and probably wouldn’t change for a while. It seemed like a good opportunity. “There’s a convenience store on Center Street just over there. I’ll get some cookies.”

The boys acted like Christmas came early, giving happy whoops.

Percy stood. “Would you like to come with me, Molly?”

Molly leapt up, brushing off her skirt. “Sure!”

Percy jumped off the roof and onto the stairs below, helping Molly down. “We should be 15 minutes or so,” she called.

“Yeah, so don’t fall off the roof!” Molly said. Giovanni’s malicious grin made Percy hope that at least Ramsey wouldn’t break his back on the way down.

The two walked side by side, the girl skipping and kicking pebbles away. Percy wasn’t quite sure what to say to get a conversation started, specifically the one that needed to happen. She really liked Molly, but she still felt as if there was some distance to cross before she could speak to her openly. As she stood, she needed to broach the subject gently and carefully. But could she come up with the right things to say? Oh no. She should have gotten Ramsey to talk. He always seemed better at talking. Yet, there they were.

“That’s a nice hoodie.” Percy felt like she was on awkward footing.

“Thanks! My mom made it for me!”

“That’s wonderful. She must be a talented woman.”

“Yeah, she was.” Molly still sounded cheerful, but her skipping lost its pep.

Was. “From what I understand, it’s just your dad and your sister then?”

“Yeah. Just the three of us running the shop.”

Percy peered down the street carefully before leading Molly across. There was no traffic. Very few people lived downtown anyway. “Just you three?”

Molly sighed and thrust her hands in her pocket. “That’s how it’s supposed to be. But it just feels like me.”

Percy was sinking, her lungs deflating, a flame sparking to life in her chest. “Your father treats you incorrectly, from both a legal and moral standpoint. I won’t let him get away with it.”

Molly opened her mouth, then bit her lip, focusing instead on the cracks in the sidewalk. “I hope that you’re not too quick to condemn him.”

Percy stiffened. “What? You have to understand that—”

“I know. I know that he’s abusive. Don’t worry about me having Stockholm syndrome or anything. It’s just that…” She took a deep breath of the air sweetened with spring flowers. “I hope that you take a moment to understand him before you put him in a box and label him a criminal.”

A jolt electrified Percy’s system. It was like Ramsey. And Giovanni. Their criminal reputations preceded them, but she saw their quality of character once she looked past it all. She would have to give Mr. Blyndeff the benefit of the doubt as well, but… this situation felt so different. This man’s actions were directly hurting another person. But wasn’t all crime the same? Didn’t theft, forgery, and embezzlement hurt people too? Well, this kind of hurt wasn’t financial. It degraded a child’s humanity. She had trouble imagining Mr. Blyndeff as anything more than the scum of the earth, but she would do her best to respect Molly’s wishes. “I apologize if I come across as too rash.”

“It’s alright,” Molly sighed. “It’s just that you and Giovanni and Fred act like my dad is the devil. He does awful things, but I know that he’s hurting. He wasn’t like this before mom died. I love and miss that version of dad. And my old sister too. And my mom.” Her lip trembled and her eyes darkened with stormy tears. “I feel like mom’s death destroyed my whole family! We all died along with her.”

Percy patted her shoulder, not quite knowing how to comfort her.

“We were all normal before, but now we’re just a bunch of awful people!” she blubbered.

Percy knelt, pulling her into a hug padded by the thick fabric of the bear hoodie. “You’re not awful. You’re so wonderful and intelligent and caring!”

The girl buried her face in Percy’s shoulder. “I want to love my dad again, but I don’t know if I could ever forgive him!” Her small frame was wracked with sobs.

After a few minutes, Percy straightened Molly’s jacket and wiped her cheeks dry. “If you really want to forgive him, then I know you can, but it will take time. This is what I wanted to talk about.” Percy was nervous to go on. It seemed like a big leap. “Well, in all that time, I was wondering if you would like to live with me.”

Molly’s eyes grew wide.

Percy examined her boots. “Well, you see, I’m currently able to take the classes in order to become an official foster parent, so if you could hang in there for a few more weeks, then I could take care of you and you could live in my apartment, but of course it’s up to you…” The words spilled out in a jumble.

Molly’s face lit up with hope and her eyes misted over. “That sounds great! Thank you.” Her words were still a little shaky as they continued walking together. “I think you’re my guardian angel. I thought I didn’t have one.”

“I’ll look out for you.”

“I’m beginning to think that things will turn out alright.”

“Yes.” Percy held the door of the convenience store open for Molly. “Things will turn out alright.”

***

Percy hefted Molly onto the rooftop, who in turn raised the box of cookies triumphantly. Fred and Giovanni immediately dropped their arm wrestling competition to get a cookie.

“Who won?” Percy asked, sliding next to Ramsey.

“Hard to tell,” he said with a shrug. “They had to keep having rematches or something.”

Percy rubbed the label of the box of gum in her pocket, glancing back to the target. “Has anything changed?”

“Nah. Someone’s still in the apartment.”

After a pause, she placed the pack of gum in his hands. “I, uh, thought it would be better to chew this instead of the inside of your cheek.”

He looked surprised, then smiled. “Hey, thanks. I had no idea you noticed my little nervous habit.”

She leaned a little closer. “Well, you know, I think about you a lot.”

He popped a stick in his mouth and Percy could smell the mint. “I’ll probably need it when we storm the castle. Stuff like this is a surefire stress inducer.”

“You’re going to be 85 by the time you’re 40.”

“I like to call it mature.”

The boys had blazed through the cookies and now joined Percy and Ramsey at the edge of the roof. “What’s our strategy? Our plan of attack?” Fred asked.

“If I may add my professional opinion,” Giovanni said, “I think that we should pop the lock on that first floor side window, get in the store, and work our way up with Molly’s epithet.”

“I agree, but we should wait until either they leave or they appear asleep,” Percy said.

“They won’t hear us, but what happens if they see us?” Molly asked.

Giovanni whipped out his bat, giving it a few swings. “Then I’ll smack ‘em with my SOUL SLUGGER DOOM BAT!”

“But they have guns,” Fred said.

“Then Ramsey could turn into gold and give ‘em the ol’ PUNCH IN THE FACE OF DESTRUCTION!”

“No way,” Ramsey said, shaking his head.

Giovanni lost his momentum. “Wai—What? Why not? Don’t tell me you’re a pacifist all the sudden!”

“Do you have any idea how dense gold is?”

“Why would I know _that_?”

Ramsey stood, balancing on the lip at the edge of the roof. Gold spread across his body and he turned back to face Giovanni with folded arms and a mildly amused expression. “Push me off the roof.”

Percy’s safety senses were tingling and she almost interjected, but she was interested to see where the conversation was going.

“I’m not gonna do that!” Giovanni shouted. “Whaddya take me for?”

“Try it.”

“Okaaay…” Giovanni gave Ramsey a tentative push, but when the man didn’t budge, he pushed harder until he had his whole body into it, his boots sliding across the roof. He fell back panting, pushing pink hair out of his face. “Geez, you need a weight loss program.”

Ramsey stepped off the lip of the roof with a clank, turning back to normal. “Gold is 19 times more dense than humans are. I weigh 150 pounds normally, but when I’m gold, I weigh nearly 3,000, which is just a tad more than your average car.”

Giovanni’s mouth dropped. “No wonder,” he muttered.

“It takes 2,300 newtons to crush a skull but when I’m gold, one punch is 11,500 newtons. It wouldn’t just kill them, it would splatter their brains everywhere.”

Percy closed her mouth, which had been gaping as well. She had no idea, had never even considered how heavy Ramsey was when he turned to gold. Of course, he would be at least a few hundred pounds heavier, but she never imagined it would be 3,000.

Giovanni was silent for a moment, taking in all the numbers, but soon spoke with renewed vigor. “Change of plans! If they shoot, we run!”

“Sounds good to me,” Fred said with a thumbs up.

Percy sighed, hoping for a more precise plan of action, so she took note of each exit the building had to offer. Most of them were windows, two on the lower sides and two on the top floor with an additional window on either side of the building. It was a long drop. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. She straightened as she saw the lights flick out. Darkness swept over the road except for a distant street lamp. Her watch read 10:54. “It seems like they’re going to bed,” she began. “We’ll move in 20 minutes from now, hopefully giving them some time to get to sleep. Everyone ready?”

Their determined smiles gave her all the answer she needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda proud of myself because I did all the math and research to find out how much Ramsey would weigh when he's gold. Looking back, it was probably wasn't all that difficult. It just felt difficult because man am I bad at math XD


	7. Chapter 7

Ramsey gnawed on his gum as the group descended the stairs. It was starting to lose its flavor, but it was nice to have something for his mouth to do. They crossed the empty streets and his stomach leaped in apprehension. Even though there wasn’t a person in sight, he glanced over his shoulder every so often to make sure they weren’t being watched.

They crept to the side window and Giovanni pulled a screwdriver from his pocket, jamming it under the frame and using some leverage to break the lock. It made no sound as he pushed it open and clambered through. He crouched low to the ground and checked the surrounding area, hand on his bat.

“All clear,” Giovanni whispered behind him. They followed through the window, Fred giving Molly a boost up.

Inside was an old, well-worn storefront. Scant dusty shelves lined the walls, a display case covered in smudges sat in one corner, and a counter with a till hid in the shadows of the back. Ramsey didn’t want to touch anything in fear of getting his hands sticky. The place could really use a deep clean. The group spread out, looking high and low for any sign of the jewelry. Everything was pretty much empty, so Ramsey shifted his weight onto each floorboard, checking for any hidden compartments. He shot a look at Percy and shrugged. She nodded slowly, hand on her chin. Finally, she turned to the door in the very back, giving the handle a turn. Locked.

“Fred,” she whispered.

The boy’s freckled face popped up from behind the counter and he made his way to the door, kneeling in front of it to pick the lock. After a few minutes, he propped the door open, revealing a tiny back room and a narrow staircase. Ramsey noticed Percy shudder before stepping inside, casting a wary look at the stairs. On the floor just above them, someone waited in the shadows. Hopefully, they could be in and out without confronting that someone.

Wooden furniture huddled together in the back room. Chairs and tables with delicate whirls and scrollwork. A bed frame yet to be assembled. It all looked hand-crafted with scrupulous amounts of detail. It all seemed to match with the half-finished projects back at the warehouse. Did the mafia make furniture now? Ramsey stopped to look at a decorative shelf. Pretty sturdy, good design. Honestly, he was impressed.

Pulling himself out of his musings, he caught up with the others. It wasn’t too difficult considering the room was perhaps 15 feet wide. Percy caught his attention and flashed a smile, pointing to a safe in the corner. Checkmate.

Fred examined the lock, but threw his head back in frustration. “Aww, it’s a combination lock,” he whispered. “It’ll take forever to figure it out.”

Great. Ramsey ran his hand along the hinges and the sides, testing the waters. “This thing’s pretty solid. I don’t think we can break into it without the combination.”

“Guess I’ll try stuff and see if it works,” Fred muttered. He turned the dial, ear pressed just above it. With the deafening silence enveloping them, everyone could hear the faint ticks from the lock, its sound amplified by the relative quiet.

“Wait, I have an idea.” Molly stepped forward, nudging Fred to the side.

“What is it?” Giovanni asked, but the girl was already in action.

Molly rested a small hand on the lock, eyes closed, breathing steadily. A faint glow drifted from the seams of the safe and she clenched her teeth as the light grew stronger. Finally, the glow flickered and fell back to darkness as Molly, gasping for air, flopped on her back. Ramsey could suddenly hear street noise again. Not good.

“Hey, Bear Trap!” Giovanni hissed, rushing to her side. Grasping her thin shoulders, he gave her a gentle shake.

“I’m okay,” Molly drawled. “Jus’ a lotta stamina.” Her eyes were out of focus as if her brain was filled with TV static. She sat up, patting her cheeks to come back to herself. She raised her hands, restoring the cottony silence, and a triumphant grin spread across her face. “I simplified the combination. Try three zeros.”

Fred twisted the dial and pumped his fist in the air when the door popped open with a click.

“Very clever, Molly,” Percy whispered.

Giovanni slapped her on the back. “Yeah, look at you!”

Molly only smiled at the ground and tugged at a strand of hair.

However, the jubilation died out when Fred pulled only a single watch from the safe. “That’s it,” he groaned, tossing it to Ramsey.

Welp, that’s 20 down, 33 to go. It was icy cold and sat heavily in his hands. The band and bezel were gold, the face made of a creamy iridescent opal. “It’s real, alright,” he said, remembering the matching picture from the case file. He flipped it over to see the back of the case. A feathered serpent grinned demonically at him and the back of his neck prickled. Man, did he hate that thing. Why this specific piece of jewelry, though, when there were dozens of others to leave behind? It felt too coincidental, too personal. It had to be a sign. “We—we gotta get out of here,” he stammered.

“You alright?” Giovanni asked. “You’re more pale than usual.”

Ramsey shoved the watch in his pocket, scrambling to his feet. He felt off-balance as if he were underwater. His mind raced over what just happened. Molly’s epithet had faltered and Giovanni’s voice was pretty loud, even when he was whispering. Someone might have heard that. And then the watch, that specific watch. “They knew we were coming.”

A soundless shadow surged over the furniture from the doorway. Ramsey was afraid to turn around. Molly’s eyes were wide and she stretched out her hands to restore sound to the world. Now, he could detect the calculating tap of footsteps approaching. Heel, toe, heel, toe.

“Glad you could make it,” a husky voice said. The words fell like fire crackers and the click of a gun reeked of enmity. “We were beginning to worry.”

Ramsey whipped around to see Anton standing in the doorway, nothing more than a silhouette against the blue and yellow light. He was rooted to the ground, unable to move. He could feel the man’s eyes boring into him.

Percy was the first to act, drawing her sword with a metallic  _ shnng.  _ “Clear out!” she commanded, approaching Anton with an air of authority.

The only place left to go was upstairs. “C’mon,” Ramsey said. Grabbing the arm of the nearest kid, Giovanni, he ran up the stairs with Fred and Molly close behind. Just as Anton was about to fire, Percy slashed the gun out of his hand. Ramsey couldn’t see the rest of what happened, but he heard a roar from the man and another swipe of the sword. The top floor opened up into one big room, too dim to make out many details.

Just as he cleared the last step, something knocked him to the floor. Ramsey squirmed as a dark figure pinned him to the ground, knees digging into his arms. Of course it was a trap. It was all a trap. And he was dumb enough to fall for it.

“So this is what became of you,” Cecilia said, voice dripping with venom. “Looks like you got a pretty cool scar out of it.” Her hands at his neck were so frigid that they stung. “This reminds me of twelve years ago! What about you?” She squeezed.

A bat swung through the air, hitting Cecilia in the temple and sending her sprawling. She yelped, cradling her cheek, head lolling. Ramsey hastily backed away, electricity crawling over his skin. He could still feel her phantom fingers at his throat.

“We have to jump out the window!” Giovanni said, throwing one open.

Fred gripped the windowsill and looked out. “We’re gonna break all our bones!”

“Don’t worry about it!” Molly shouted. “Just do it!”

“Okay!” Fred leaped out the window with a shriek, Giovanni and Molly following.

Percy soon charged up the stairs with Anton hot on her tail. Sheathing her sword, she jumped out the window head first. Ramsey looked back. For a few long seconds, he stared at the woman that had nearly murdered him. His mouth was dry. She pushed herself to her feet, leaning heavily on the wall. Her hand was pressed to the bruise forming just under her eye. She stared back, her eyes unfocused. Ramsey shuddered and slipped out the window.

At first, he was expecting to hit the ground hard, but it felt more like a cushion rather than a patch of asphalt. Molly swayed, rubbing her temples. “I dumbed down the impact, but that’s probably it for my stamina,” she breathed.

Ramsey rolled to his feet, reminding himself to thank her later. Frankly, she had just saved everyone’s asses. “Great job, kid. Can you still run?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Good, ‘cause we should probably do that!” Just as he had spoken, Anton burst through the front door, supporting his sister.

***

The siblings hopped on their motorcycles, the woman lagging behind only a little. They looked murderous. An unfortunate turn of events in their operation. “Come on!” Percy shouted.

“Four steps ahead of you!” Fred called back, leading Molly into the winding alleys and away from the siblings.

The motorcycles revved up, doubling Percy’s sense of urgency as her feet pounded the pavement. Her side stung and she stumbled. She had nearly forgotten about the bullet wound, but she would either have to ignore it or get a dozen more.

Giovanni grinned, steam curling from his mouth. “I’ll lose them! I’ve got just the trick!” He raised his arms, a wide sheet of pink steam trailing from his body. Clouds surged back over their pursuers like waves overtaking a rowboat. A wall of steam pressed at their backs, flooding the alley and making the moonlight hazy.

“Excellent,” Percy said. “Molly! This will give you enough cover to run back to the car!” She tossed the keys and the girl caught them only to toss them back.

“No! I’m not leaving you guys!”

“If you haven’t noticed, we’re in a substantial amount of danger! Have you forgotten our promise?”

Molly looked back over her shoulder with a roguish grin. “Have you forgotten that I’m a criminal? I don’t keep promises!”

“Good Lord,” Percy hissed. That girl had some moxie. Admirable, but not convenient, although Percy couldn’t help but like her more and more. The roar of a motorcycle crashed on her right ear, so she adjusted their course to take them away from the noise. However, there was only so much they could do being trapped in the alleys and all. They dashed out into the open street, just in front of the warehouse. The chain link gates hung open and on the far side, Percy could see the spot where they had climbed over the fence earlier. On either side of them, the motorcycles shot from adjacent alleys. Egads, they were herded right where the siblings wanted them.

Percy skidded to a stop, dirt clouding at her feet, and whipped around to make a stand. Electricity coursed through her veins as two wizard towers climbed from the ground. Lightning slashed through the air, knocking the siblings off of their motorcycles and leaving them convulsing in the dirt. Giovanni sent some hot soup their way for good measure.

Cecilia rose to her knees and reflexively reached for her gun before remembering that it wouldn’t work. She shot a look at her brother, who stood, taking a wide stance. “We had a feeling you’d pull that one again,” he said, opening his jacket, “but can you counter THIS?” He ripped a knife, one of many, from the lining of his coat and threw it at Percy with remarkable accuracy.

Percy yelped and hopped to the side just in time as the dagger whizzed past her shoulder. It flew undeterred by the electromagnetic field. Drat, it must have been a nonconductive stainless steel dagger. “Maybe I can’t counter it,” she said, “but I can do this again.” Lightning struck their foes a second time and they collapsed ignominiously, smoke rising from their suit jackets. Really, white was showy, but a terrible color choice.

Fred took the pause as an opportunity to run, taking Molly with him. “Wait!” Molly cried, but Fred held her hand firmly.

“You’re low on stamina! I’m taking you somewhere safe!” he said back. Before he could get much further, an engine roared up the street, preceded by a bright set of headlights. The black sports car drifted mere feet in front of them, coming to a loud, screeching halt. Fred leapt back, throwing a protective arm across Molly.

As the dust settled, a grave man emerged from the driver's seat. Elegantly aged, the man’s thick gray hair was swept back and his jaw was a sharp, serious square. His suit was entirely black with the exception of a bright red tie. With an upturned nose, he adjusted his cufflinks in an affronted manner, taking in the scene around him.

Fred scrambled backward, Molly holding his arm to help him keep his balance.

“Why are they all so stylish?” Giovanni whispered.

Ramsey shrugged. “Dunno. It’s kinda freaky.”

The man, whom Percy assumed to be the siblings’ father, sniffed in displeasure at the boys in front of him. “My, you can’t handle a few children?” he said in a didactic tone. “Here, I’ll show you how to make quick work of it.” His gloved hands reached for a sleek pistol at his side.

“It won’t work, daddy!” Cecilia shouted. “This lady’s epithet makes bullets useless!”

The man sniffed again and brushed off the warning, pretending as if he knew the whole time. “Lucky I brought my knives, then. Damn inscribed.” By the time he selected a knife from the inside of his jacket, Fred and Molly had made it back to Giovanni’s side. With nowhere left to run, they were surrounded.

“Oh, and look who it is!” Anton said, having risen to his feet.

Beside Percy, Ramsey gulped as the man’s eyes roved over him.

“Ah,” Mr. Abbandonato said with a subdued grin. “It’s a pleasure to do business with you again, Mr. Murdoch.” He took dignified strides toward them, twisting the throwing knife around his fingers. “It really is a shame my daughter failed to kill you, but I suppose we may as well pick up where we left off twelve years ago.”

The mafia closed in on the group. Percy choked down her alarm, whipping her head around to look for the best escape route. Her stamina wouldn’t allow her to hold them off for too much longer. The only way out was the gate to the warehouse just behind them. Percy pushed Ramsey in the direction just as she fired another bolt of lightning. The electricity streaked to its targets and Percy turned to run.

“They’ll trap us!” Giovanni shouted as they dashed to the warehouse.

“If they chase us, we can circle around!” Percy said, passing the threshold of the open garage door. The industrial lights above them cast dramatic shadows everywhere.

Behind them, Mr. Abbandonato laboriously rose to his feet. “Get them!”

The siblings bolted after them, nearly losing their footing on the dirt. They appeared to be on the edge of losing consciousness.

“How far does that magnetic field reach?” Ramsey panted, skirting around crates.

“The walls will interfere, but this’ll fix it.” Percy used the last of her stamina to create one more magnetic field inside. The concrete floor rose into towers, displacing several odds and ends of supplies. She stumbled, gasping for air. Ramsey caught her just as everything went dark.

***

Percy sagged in Ramsey’s arms, making him nearly fall too. He hefted her behind a crate as a knife flew past his ear. Thankfully, she only blacked out for a few seconds, but she still looked shaken up. “Think you can still run?” he asked.

“I think I have to,” she replied, shaking her head. She braced herself on the crate, then began to run again.

Ramsey heard the garage door closing behind them. As the siblings raised their knives to throw again, Fred jolted to a stop. Whipping around, he grabbed a nearby stool and chucked it. The wood exploded upon contact with their pursuers.

“Hey, I handcrafted that!” Anton bellowed.

“So what, you guys rebuilt your empire on furniture?” Giovanni shouted.

“Well, it’s all we had left after SOMEONE made us lose our house!” Cecilia yelled back.

Ramsey laughed nervously. “Bygones right?” He ducked behind a crate to avoid the knife hurled at his face.

“All we had were a bunch of random building supplies we had stored away, so we made something out of it,” Anton said with a fond look at some half-finished furniture.

Cecilia dodged a ball of soup. “Eventually, we scraped together enough cash to buy the pawn shop.”

“And then we threatened some businessman to lower the price on the deed to this warehouse.” Anton threw a knife that just missed Giovanni.

“Then we were confident enough to get back in the game, stealing and reselling jewelry—”

“But you guys came along!”

“And we’re not gonna let you ruin us again!” Cecilia shouted. She drew a knife in each hand, honing in on the kids.

“C’mon, Molly!” Giovanni shouted, sending boiling spheres of soup at Cecilia. Percy immediately drew her sword, both she and Fred running after them.

Ramsey turned to follow, but Anton stepped in the way. He turned to gold just as a knife pinged off his chest. “Can’t kill me with that,” Ramsey said, flashing a smirk.

“Hm, maybe not.” Anton reached inside a crate and pulled out a blowtorch. “I guess I ought to turn up the heat.”

“Pff, do you even know what the melting point of gold is?” Ramsey asked, hoping the man would fall for his bluff.

The blast of blue flame reflected on Anton’s shades. “No idea, but I think this’ll do the trick.”

Well, crap. That would definitely melt him. But since he weighed a ton and a half, he couldn’t run very fast. He’d have to make a stand. When Anton lunged at him, Ramsey hit the blowtorch out of his hands.

Anton screamed and fell to the ground, holding his broken fingers to his chest. A revolver fell from its holster at the man’s hip. Sheesh, Ramsey did it as gently as possible, but maybe he underestimated his strength. He grabbed the gun if only to keep it from Anton. The blowtorch clattered, rolling across the floor. Before Ramsey had a chance to move, a drop cloth caught fire. Then a crate. And then all of the other crates. Ramsey turned back from being gold and shoved the gun in his waistband. Yeah, he’d have to run. Anton, however, was already a step ahead of him. The man turned tail, shoving a crate to block Ramsey’s path.

Glancing around, Ramsey found another way through the maze, but just as he took a step, he spotted them. A row of gasoline containers neatly lined up against a flaming crate. He dove behind a shelf, avoiding getting spattered by the explosion. Puddles of flame splashed everywhere, only spreading the blaze. It looked like hell.

***

Giovanni ran toward an exit, grasping Molly’s and Fred’s arms. Cecilia raised her arm, knife in hand. Percy felt a flash of pure rage. She swiped her sword, sending the dagger flying across the warehouse.

Cecilia growled, whipping around.

“Don’t touch those children,” Percy said dangerously.

Saying nothing, Cecilia yanked a switchblade from her pocket.

Percy slashed it away.

“Okay…” Cecilia spat. She picked up a metal pipe from the ground, giving it a few experimental swings.

Percy grinned. This played very well into her forte. Using the flat side of the blade to deflect attacks, she quickly gained the upper hand and started fighting offensively. With neat motions, Percy slashed and stabbed, leaving Cecilia only barely able to defend herself. The woman wielded her pipe more like a bat than a sword. A well-placed strike forced Cecilia to fall back, holding a hand over the gash in her upper arm.

Just as the woman regained her footing, a deafening sound made Percy drop the sword and clap her hands over her ears. Everything flashed brighter.

“Fire? Fire!” Molly screamed, eyes growing wide.

“Anton!” Cecilia shouted. She skirted past Percy and toward the eruption.

Percy resheathed the sword, her heart skipping a beat as she dashed to the boys. Fire leaped as crates tossed it along. A flaming shelf collapsed across their path. “This way!” Dashing around flaming objects, she narrowed in on a door, thrusting it open. The boys spilled into the night, greedily sucking in fresh air. Molly looked completely unnerved and seemed to breathe harder than the rest.

“Are you all okay?” Percy panted.

Giovanni looked over Molly and Fred. “Yeah.”

Something crashed inside the building. The flames were rising high enough to be seen from the outside. “I’m so sorry, but you’ll have to run,” Percy said. “Someone will see the fire and call 911. If the police catch you here, you’ll be arrested on the spot!”

Giovanni nodded solemnly. “We can handle ourselves. Will you be okay?”

“I’ll figure it out. Now go!”

Fred patted Molly on the back. “Are you okay?”

“Fire just… scares me,” she said hollowly, “but I’m alright. We have to run.” With one last look at Percy, she followed the boys and climbed over the fence, disappearing into the night.

Someone stumbled out of the building behind her, making Percy jump. Anton braced his hands on his knees. “Ceci?” he gasped. “Where’s Ceci?”

“She—she ran back to look for you!”

“She’s still in there? Ceci!” He ran back to the door, only to be stopped by Percy yanking his jacket back. A burning beam fell hard in the doorway, blocking it. “Ceci!” Anton cried.

Percy stepped away. “Wait, where’s Ramsey?” she muttered. In her blind urge to protect the boys, she had left him behind. “Wait, is Ramsey still in there?” Her voice dripped with ice.

“Yeah, I sort of threw a crate in his face,” Anton hastily said, running around the side of the building. “I—I gotta get Ceci out of there.”

Ramsey was still in there? A freight train of terror hit her like nothing she had ever felt before.


	8. Chapter 8

Flames licked up the walls, the maze of crates becoming an inferno. The conflagration roared and smoke billowed the air. At least Percy and the others were safe.

“Anton? Anton?” Cecilia wailed in the distance. He couldn’t see where she was amongst the rubble.

With everything collapsing around him, Ramsey frantically searched for the best exit. It would be too dangerous to leave from the ground floor, considering everything was on fire. The only place left to go was up. He clambered up the metal stairs and he felt the rail growing hot under his fingers. The door to the outside seemed so far away.

Someone grabbed him from behind and thrust him to the floor. He hit the scaffolding with a clang, rolling over to see Cecilia standing over him. Her white suit was covered in patches of ash, face painted with rage, blood dripping from her sleeve. That look gave him a jolt of panic.

His hand shot out to the handrail and he yanked himself up, nearly losing his footing. “Hey, we gotta get out of here or we’ll both die!” he shouted, but it did nothing to deter her approach.

“You think I care?” she snapped, grabbing the front of his shirt and throwing him into the railing.

Just as he hit the rails, he turned them to gold. The metal buckled, absorbing some of the impact, but it still dug into his back all the same. The pain stung, radiating through his spine. He didn’t have time to move before she hurled him to the ground again. Shards of ice stabbed his lungs. The gun in his waistband pressed into his back. The woman looked bloodthirsty.

“My life is burning down around me and it’s all your fault! My family lost everything because of you! Some inscribed taking advantage of us! And now I don’t know where my brother is!” She was seething, her face contorted with fury. He tried to get up, but she kicked him squarely in the chest.

Should he turn to gold? Turn her to gold? No, the scaffolding would probably collapse and send them into the flaming abyss. Sometimes, his epithet could be so useless. He twisted to avoid a livid kick aimed at his face.

Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, catching the light of the fire as they fell. “It’s all your fault!” She viciously swung her fists with every word she spewed. “Life would be better if you didn’t exist!”

Ramsey’s heart pumped harder and harder. His death was looming over him, backlit by hell itself. As Cecilia took another step closer, he changed the sole of his shoe to gold and aimed a kick at the side of her knee. She gasped and fell back only to topple over the bent portion of the railing. A shriek and a sickening snap. Ramsey was left shaking and petrified at the same time. Had he just done that? That had to be a 30-foot drop. Shit, did he just kill her? He crawled to the edge of the scaffolding, peering down at the ground floor.

Cecilia was on her stomach, pulling herself away from a burning crate, still alive. Thank God. Her leg, however, was bent at an awkward angle and she favored it as she crawled away. Ramsey looked to the exit, only a few yards away. If he was going to get out, that was his chance. Who knew when the building would collapse? But something kept him cemented to the spot. He glanced back to Cecilia, clawing her way to a clearing in the rubble. The door. Cecilia. The door. The woman that nearly murdered him.

“Gah, why does this have to be so hard?” he hissed to himself. He ran back to the stairs, back toward the fire, and slid down the handrail. Picking out a path, he worked his way around the flaming wood. Heat blared at his skin. The smoke was thick, clouding up at the apex of the ceiling. He coughed, practically feeling the smoke form a thick coating in his lungs.

Cecilia whipped her face upward with tears carving paths down the soot on her cheeks. A sob wracking her body, she scrubbed at her face.

“C’mon,” Ramsey said, pulling one of her arms over his shoulders.

She stumbled until she found balance on her good leg. “What are you doing?” she coughed.

“Just shut up and walk.” He hated that he was touching her, disgusted at the way she clung to his shirt and leaned against him. Helping her hop up the stairs was torture. On the other side of the building, a few window panes shattered and sprayed glass into the raging flames. The metal scaffolding lurched. The door was so close. He gagged, tasting ashes. Throwing the door open, he hauled Cecilia out into fresh air. She gasped in pain, her breaths ragged. They descended the stairs down the side of the building and stood on the dirt in silence. The night felt cool and quiet, the fire crackling behind them.

“You… You saved my life.” Cecilia said it as if she still couldn’t believe it had happened.

Anger sparked in Ramsey’s chest. “Get off of me,” he growled, purposefully letting her fall to the ground.

“Augh!” She curled around her leg then sat up, one hand tenderly on her shin with a wounded expression filling her eyes. Shock at the betrayal. The look pissed him off royally.

“What? You think this means I forgive you or something?” he yelled, clenching his shaking fists.

“No, I just thought—”

“Thought that I could just forget that time you tried to murder me?” He felt hot even though the breeze swept away the residual heat from his body. “You ruined me that day! Recovery was a nightmare and then I couldn’t leave my apartment for a week ‘cause I thought the world was after me, so I drowned myself in alcohol every night and when that didn’t work I thought about killing myself but I knew I didn’t have the guts! Now I have an anxiety disorder to remind me every day how much I hate myself!” He was seething, his blood boiling, dissolving him like acid. He had never been so angry in his life and it felt so incredibly awful. And vindictive. Fulfilling in a malignant way.

Cecilia’s face turned sour. “You think you’re the only one that suffered? Do you have any idea what you did to my family? We lived on the streets for weeks! I didn’t know when I would eat and where I would sleep, and all I knew was that some selfish inscribed bastard took that all away! Then when my revenge plot failed, the guilt ate at me and I woke up every night thinking I was drenched in your blood! And then I think I could move on, but I see you again and all the rage comes back!” Her voice was raw and bitter. “You know what I thought? I thought that saving me was a sign that we were even and could just move on with our lives!”

“Yeah? Well that’s tough!” Ramsey looked down to see that he was choking the gun in his hand. The sight startled him.

Cecilia’s expression hardly changed. “Are you going to kill me? Go ahead! Everything I worked to rebuild is gone anyway!” She pulled herself to his feet and pressed the gun into her forehead. “Just get it over with!”

His finger moved to the trigger.

***

Without having to speak any words, Percy and Anton formed an instant alliance. She tried the next door, but it wouldn’t open. Anton found a vent on the side of the building, smoke pouring out of it, but the grate was folded up in it, immovable. Distant sirens rose, becoming louder, ringing in her ears. Her hysteria doubled, but she swallowed it back. Together, they ran to the front of the building where police and firemen were already rushing on the scene.

Without hesitation, an officer tackled Anton, shoving him into cuffs. The man screamed and the officer quickly handed him off to a paramedic, who checked his broken fingers.

Percy ran to the next door only to be grabbed by a bear-like figure. A fireman in his thick uniform kept his arms around her as she squirmed, trapping her arms at her sides.

“You can’t go in there!” the man said.

“Ramsey’s still in there!” she wailed. The man’s arms bit into her skin, making her want to collapse in on herself.

“We’ll get everyone out,” the man said. “You just have to stay here, alright?”

Percy wrestled herself out of the man’s grip. “Alright,” she gasped. With that, the man shot commands at his subordinates and prepared to move in on the warehouse.

***

The gun shook in Ramsey’s hands. The trigger was but a small piece of metal, but it held monumental power. He only had to press it and Cecilia Abbandonato would be gone forever. The person he hated most, the cause of his… his mess of a life. Gone.

But what would it solve? His grip loosened.

The past wouldn’t change.

The anxiety wouldn’t leave.

The guilt would haunt him.

Did she even deserve to die?

Nausea inched up and down his stomach. She was just like him. A victim lashing out in anger. Caught up in the wrong things. Doing the wrong things. Ruining other people. Dealt a shitty hand in life.

Ramsey let out a slow breath and pulled her hand away from the barrel of the revolver. Her mouth fell open. He popped open the cylinder and let each bullet slide out to the ground. “I’m sorry,” he said, voice hoarse and bitter. “I’m sorry I ruined your life and I never should have conned your family.”

Her eyes were wide, lips parted. She lowered her gaze. “I guess I’m sorry too. We’re just a bunch of messed up people, huh?”

“Yeah.” He despised the fact that he agreed with her, but he tossed the gun away and helped her to her feet, walking around the burning building. At the front gates of the warehouse, sirens blared, red and blue lights flashing in the darkness. People leaped out of a firetruck and twisted a hose on the nearest fire hydrant. A police car and an ambulance sat beside it. “Looks like your ride is here,” he said, helping Cecilia walk.

“The ambulance or the cop car?”

“Eh, all in due time.”

A pair of paramedics spotted them and rushed to take Cecilia away. Anton peered out of the ambulance and cried out in relief. As they pushed her onto a stretcher, she stared back at him, a long stare. So loaded with _something_ that he couldn’t discern what it meant. And then the doors slammed and the ambulance tore out into the street. A firefighter came up to him, asked if he was okay. Ramsey nodded numbly and the man ran back to the truck.

Shaking, he sat on the ground and placed his head between his knees. He couldn’t help but feel some strange sense of finality as he lost himself in an uncontrollable wave of panic. The bitterness and fear and guilt that festered for twelve years came crashing down on him all at once. It tore at his flesh and he couldn’t stop shaking. His muscles, his stomach, his chest, everything hurt so badly. Nausea hit him in agonizing waves. He was going to be sick. Just so… angry.

“Ramsey? Oh, you’re alive!”

What? The name? His. Should he respond?

“Ramsey, are you alright?”

His voice was gravelly from the smoke burning in his throat. “She’s gone…” _So why do I still feel awful?_ He couldn’t say anything more or he would have vomited for sure. His chest throbbed and his stomach felt stiff. Rapid gasps for air stung his throat. Everything around him was a horrific blur. This had to be one of his worst attacks yet.

Someone brushed his shoulder and he jolted away, bracing his hands on the dirt. It was Percy with her hand still outstretched. Her golden hair was matted down with soot and her eyes looked terrified. She moved to his side again and this time, he leaned into her touch when she put her arm around him.

“You’re shaking quite badly,” she said.

He nodded, a hand clamped over his mouth.

She placed a hand on his sternum and spoke softly. “You’re really stiff. Try to loosen up and you’ll feel less sick.”

Ramsey sucked in a deep breath, but he couldn’t control his body.

“This might help,” she said, pulling a plastic bag out of her pocket. He recognized the pill inside as benzodiazepine. “Sorry, I snuck this out of your house and took it with us just in case. Looks like it could come in handy now.”

He almost choked out some sort of response, but he decided against it and just swallowed the pill dry. They sat in silence, Percy running her hand up and down his back, watching the fire slowly die down and rivulets of water cascade down the sides of the building. Another firefighter came up to Ramsey and asked him a few questions, looking him over. The woman determined that he didn’t have a smoke inhalation injury and rejoined her comrades. The handful of cops on the scene searched the area. It took a while, forty minutes maybe, but Ramsey finally felt looser and more calm. A warm, comfortable drowsiness tugged at the edges of his consciousness, but he forced himself to stay awake. Even though his emotions were numb, he could still remember how angry he was. And... he almost killed a person. Should he tell her?

“...I thought I lost you,” Percy murmured after a while. “Anton and I tried to find a way back in, but then the police came and then I saw you and Cecilia. I was so relieved.”

“I’m okay. It’ll take more than that to kill me. That’s probably, like, the thirtieth time I’ve cheated death.”

Percy laughed, a brittle laugh that almost ended in tears.

“Where’d the kids end up?” he asked.

“I told them to run before the police came because they’d be arrested on the spot.” She deflated. “But it’s only a matter of time for the Sergeant to find out.”

“Huh?”

“Sergeant Eros.” She gestured toward a herculean man speaking with another officer. They were talking to a cuffed Mr. Abbandonato, jotting things down on a clipboard.

Ramsey’s stomach dropped. He had completely forgotten that they were working for the police force. If they found out that Percy had worked with Giovanni instead of arresting him… He just really hoped that didn’t happen. Unfortunately, the sergeant strode over to them, a beefy hand stroking his mustache. Percy stood at attention, pulling Ramsey to his feet as well.

“Well, if it isn’t the conman and our very own Detective Perc’,” he said, voice low and smooth as silk. “Mr. Mafia over there spilled the beans. We have one, two, three, four, five people accounted for,” he said, counting on his fingers, “but where’s the other three? And I hear that they’re children? Tell me, Perc’, is this situation a little more messy than we thought?”

“Yessir,” Percy said without skipping a beat.

Ramsey shot her a questioning glance, but she didn’t seem to notice.

Percy continued, keeping a stiff, professional look on her face. “Two of them are young adults, actually, and the other is twelve. They had information that I thought would be beneficial to our investigation. I have since sent them home to safety.”

Eros flashed a debonair grin and smoothed back his hair. It came across as condescending, somehow. “Alright,” he said, drawing out the syllables. “But I have a feeling we’re leaving a few important bits out.” Okay, that sing-song tone _had_ to be mocking them.

Ramsey nearly spoke out, but Percy subtly patted the side of his leg in a motion hidden from the sergeant.

“If there’s anything else you need to know, feel free to ask.” Percy sounded amiable enough, but there was a challenging glare in her eyes.

“Alright, Perc’.” Eros clenched his teeth, a muscle feathering in his jaw. “Mafia man tells me they were affiliated with the Banzai Blasters. That seems like _quite_ the important detail to leave out.”

“They wore apparel similar to Banzai uniforms, but they are not affiliated.” Percy remained cool, shrewdly deflecting the sergeant’s attacks with nothing but the pure, unadulterated truth. She would have made a good con artist.

“Alriiight.” Eros adjusted his sunglasses. “‘Kay, I’ve got a crime scene to deal with, so you two better run along now. If we recover the remaining jewelry, we’ll be contacting you, conman. And Perc’, don’t worry about finishing the investigation. Toodles!” With that, he strutted back to the other officers. He turned back for a moment, flashing some finger guns. “By the way, Detective, I’d like to see you in my office tomorrow, eight of the a.m. sharp! Stay frosty!”

Ramsey’s blood boiled. The audacity of that douchebag. “Sergeant Asshat didn’t need to talk down to you,” he muttered.

Percy only looked at the ground with a blank expression. “But I deserved it, didn’t I?”

“What? No!”

“But I disobeyed orders, purposefully left out information, and endangered the lives of three children.” Her voice lost the strength that it had.

He put an arm around her shoulders. “True, but don’t forget _why_ you did it. I don’t know if we could have even gotten as far as we did if you had blindly followed orders. I doubt we’d even know about the warehouse.”

“They won’t see it that way,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ll have to face the consequences.”

“True.” His heart sank as he watched the other officers work. Instead of being nervous, he just felt empty as if the battle was already lost. His mind sluggishly went through what the consequences could be, but he stopped, feeling too tired to think. Percy’s lip trembled and sadness invaded her blank expression. He dropped his hand down to her waist, walking with her through the gate and away from the warehouse. “Let’s get you home.”

***

The only light came from the blazing fire, now farther away, disappearing behind buildings as if they were trying to cover up what happened. Percy was crumbling away. She tried to hide it, but the horror of it all was eating at her. Had she really done the right thing? Would things have ended differently if she had just done what she was supposed to? And then what would happen next? She shrugged off the thoughts. No matter what happened, she felt justified in her mind. And at least she had Ramsey’s support. She felt like she was melting into his touch.

“Thank you,” she said, her whisper hoarse.

“Why?”

“You’re a good man for a crisis.”

“Heh.” Their shoes crunched across the dirt on the cracking sidewalks and she felt Ramsey release a slow breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“Not sure,” he said. “I guess I’m just sorry at the way things turned out. Sorry I didn’t do better. Gosh, maybe if I—”

“Don’t feel sorry,” she murmured. “I’ll willingly accept whatever happens. It was always a risk, and I knew it. All we can do is face forward.”

“Not that I have any weight to throw around, but I’ll vouch for you.”

“Thanks.” Her voice almost broke. They got in her car, falling to silence. Percy’s fingers drummed away at the wheel, unable to quite filter away her distress. She was caving in on herself, not realizing how tense she was. Slowly, her heart began to work its way up in pace. In the more heavily populated portion of the city, the lights blinded her and the street noise was particularly loud. Traffic moved in a confusing blur. She quietly tried to control her breathing, but her dread began to consume her.

“You doin’ okay?” Ramsey asked gently.

“No,” she groaned. “Sheesh, is this what you feel like all the time?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Except for now. I dunno, I just feel like nothing right now.”

“That’s good, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I suppose.” The silence was taught, like a rope being yanked upon by opposing forces. He glanced at her, then out the window. “Can I tell you something?” Ramsey asked.

“Yes.” But if he had to ask, what could it be? Percy had a feeling it couldn’t be good.

Ramsey sighed, putting a fist to his forehead. “I… I almost killed her. Cecilia, I mean.” He stared at his hands with an empty look on his face.

“Huh? When?”

“I took a gun from Anton. Then when we got out, I aimed it at her head. She was just right there. I seriously thought about pulling the trigger. I almost _did_ it. It would have been so easy…” He clenched his fist. “Hell, does that mean I’m capable of murder? I don’t even know if I feel guilty about it. I _should_ be guilty, but I just don’t feel anything. That really scares me. What if I want to kill someone again? Will I be able to stop myself again?”

Percy nearly protested, but kept quiet. Honestly, she was shocked that had happened. In the line of duty, she had run into that same situation dozens of times, although thankfully, she never had to pull the trigger. But it felt so different with it happening to Ramsey. She wished that he didn’t have to go through that. Another human life is so incredibly heavy, and she was trained for those situations. Her heart throbbed for him. However, it was a little alarming that he almost went through with it. Such a killing would have been purely out of spite. But he didn’t. That was the important part. He didn’t.

“You had every right to kill her,” Percy said.

Ramsey jolted to look at her, shock in his face.

She hated playing devil’s advocate, but she continued. “Cecilia nearly murdered you. It took a massive toll on your life and you still have the physical and emotional scars today. She’s stolen from innocent people to aid only in more criminality. She’s proven herself to be a danger to others, willing to kill whoever gets in her way. In getting rid of her, you would have taken vengeance and done a service to society. You could have pleaded self-defense and gotten off with no consequences, considering our situation.”

Ramsey stammered some incoherent syllables. “I, I, uh, I, wait—”

“So what stopped you?” The words hung in the air.

“Huh? I—I dunno, I just don’t—” he choked.

Percy asked again, more firmly. “She was right there. You said it yourself—it would have been so easy. There must be a rationale that outweighed the reasons to do it. So why didn’t you pull the trigger?”

Ramsey thrust his face in his hands. “I saw myself in her, okay? I knew she was human and didn’t deserve to die. But man, in that moment I really wanted to kill her.”

“But you didn’t,” Percy said plainly. “You just proved yourself to be a person capable of empathy and compassion, despite the circumstances. That moment of wanting to take her life was detestable, but you _fought_ it. There’s a lot of conflict that plagues you, but at the core, you’re a good person with a benevolent nature.”

In the pause, he looked up with a tear running down his left cheek. Staring out the window, he hastily took a few deep breaths until he calmed down. She heard his breathing eventually level out, becoming steady. “Thanks, Percy.”

“Of course. I love you.” She glanced at him. A heartbreaking smile tentatively crossed his face. She smiled back and they continued the drive in a much more peaceful silence.

However, stopping at Ramsey’s apartment made another cold shock sweep through her. She shook out her hands, but it didn’t leave. It was dark inside of her.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Ramsey asked.

“I…” The answer was no, but she didn’t want to be a bigger bother than she already was. “Well I just… Ugh. I want to be alone, but I’m terrified of being alone. Does that even make sense?”

He smiled softly. “Makes sense enough. You can stay at my place if you want. Uh, since we’re here and all.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

The lights painted the stairs orange, but their shadows stained them in blue. She followed closely, taking his hand to make sure she wouldn’t be left alone. Panic was slowly catching up with her and she didn’t want to feel it. She just wanted to run away. However, a vague sense of relief came when Ramsey closed the door behind her. All was quiet and it was just them. Just the two of them.

“You wanna take a shower? We’re kinda all covered in soot,” Ramsey said after a moment.

She looked down at herself, having nearly forgotten how filthy she was. Ash clung heavily to her uniform and dirt covered her hands. “That would be excellent.”

“You could borrow some of my clean clothes. Take as long as you want.”

“Thanks.” She could really use a cold shower to clear her head. Selecting one of his t-shirts and a pair of shorts, she stepped in the shower, scrubbing viciously until her skin was raw. She hated being dirty. A part of her hoped to wash away the despair that plagued her, but it didn’t work. No matter. The shirt was a bit big, but the shorts fit almost too snugly around her hips. That man really was a noodle.

While Ramsey took his shower, she paced in circles around the front room. What was going to happen the next day? She repeated the conversation with Eros in her head over and over again. Was she too firm? Did it accidentally come across as snide? If she got fired, what would happen? No money means no house. Maybe Ramsey would let her live at his apartment for a while, but she certainly couldn’t care for Molly without steady income. Had Percy already let the poor girl down? She pressed her hands against her ears, trying to dull the thoughts rapidly firing through her head. It was all so frustrating. Maybe it was all just a big mistake. She heard the washing machine start.

She hadn’t noticed Ramsey watching her. “How ya feeling, doll?”

“Hmph.”

He nodded, seeming to understand her desire to just not speak. Taking a seat at his desk, he resumed work on his art piece. Percy slowed her pacing, her attention having been captured. Anything to pull her out of the depths of her mind was welcome. She knelt on the carpet next to his chair and focused on each mark he made on the paper. With the time that stretched on, she began to feel calmer, letting her worries rest for a bit. She idly rubbed the hem of his shirt between her fingers and yawned.

Ramsey eventually looked up from his work. “Oh geez, it’s a quarter to 2:00. Are you tired?”

“Yeah.” She enjoyed the exhaustion if only to prevent her from thinking more. In a daze, she followed Ramsey and clung to his arm. She just wanted to be close to him. His room had only a bed in the corner and a few sketchbooks stacked on the floor beside the closet, barely visible in the dark. She sat on the side of the bed against the wall but didn’t lie down. She was terrified to go to sleep, terrified to wake up and see what tomorrow would bring.

“Ramsey,” she whispered. “I’m scared.” She couldn’t keep her voice steady.

He sat in front of her and held her shoulders. “I know you are. I know you’re scared now, but it won’t last forever.”

“How can you know that for sure?”

“Because there’s always gonna be something left for you in the future.”

She found comfort in the way he moved his hands to cradle her cheeks. “I’ll always have you, right?”

“For sure.” He slowly pressed his lips into hers, taking her by surprise.

At first, she noted that it was warm and a little wet, but she closed her eyes and kissed him back, losing herself in the moment. She wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled him closer and just felt him, his lips and his hands on her face. She tingled with the intimacy of it all. They pulled apart and Percy touched her mouth with her fingertips. It left her breathless and she smiled in what felt like the first time in ages. She gently rocked back and forth, unsure of what to do with herself.

Ramsey chuckled and ran his hands down her back. “I dunno, I think I like you a little bit.”

“Please tell me that was a litote.”

“I don’t even know what that means, but I’ll tell ya whatever you want me to.”

Percy held his face, her thumb brushing the scar on his cheekbone. “It doesn’t matter. I think I also like you a little bit.” She kissed him again, leaning farther and farther into him until she found herself almost on top of him.

Ramsey grinned, pulling her closer at the waist. “Well, you make a guy feel powerless,” he quipped.

“Shut up, Ramsey.”

“Make me.”

Rolling her eyes, she kissed him one more time. He was really warm and touching him gave her a pleasant buzz through her system. Pulling away, she wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled close. “Okay, I’m going to sleep now.”

He stroked her hair. “Heh, sorry, I’m such a sap.”

“And I love you for it.”

“Geez, how’d I get so lucky?”

“I could ask the same for myself,” she sighed contently.

After a moment, he spoke again and she could hear his voice vibrating in his chest. “That’s three times, I think.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve said that you love me three times, but I haven’t said it yet.” His fingers brushed her cheek. “So Percy? I love you.”

Sparks careened down her spine and her face felt hot. Just hearing that made her heart leap. She gave him a squeeze and closed her eyes, enjoying feeling him breathe. Despite how overwhelming everything was with the stress and sensory issues, it was safe and cozy and with her favorite person in the world. She drifted off feeling incredibly loved.


	9. Chapter 9

Ramsey woke the next morning feeling luckier than he ever deserved to be, but hey, he’d take it. Percy lay beside him, her arms curled up to her chest, her shirt bunched up at her waist. The bullet wound was disappearing into nothing more than a bad memory. He pulled her shirt down, smoothing it. His other arm was under her side, which was numb, but it was all so warm and comfortable that he never wanted to move again. The watch on her wrist read 6:04 and he remembered Percy’s meeting with the sergeant. Ah geez, why couldn’t life just stop for a minute?

Percy seemed to remember too because she jerked slightly, her eyes sliding open. “Mph.” She pressed her face into his shoulder.

“Morning, doll,” he whispered. “How’d you sleep?”

“Not good. It was all like a fever dream.” She rolled onto her back. “And now my chest hurts. Feels so tight.”

He hesitated at first, but gently rubbed her sternum. He could feel her heartbeat. “Does that help you loosen up?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

“Cool. I’m not feeling you up, by the way. Just troubleshooting. Helps me when I’m anxious, at least.”

She smiled. “Heh, thanks.” She closed her eyes and he felt her chest expand then slowly contract. “I never want to get out of bed again.”

“You and me both.”

“But alas, I must.” She was right. They shared a look of dread.

Ramsey rolled out of bed, feeling an uncomfortable jolt in his stomach. The benzo must have worn off by that point. As Percy neatened her hair, he pulled her freshly washed uniform out of the dryer and left her to change. Soon enough, he found himself pacing around the front room, not that there was much space to do so. His heart pounded away at a lively gait and he took a deep breath. Stopping at the kitchen sink, he filled a cup with water only to pause as the pill bottles caught his eye. Maybe it was worth a shot. After all, his next visit was in a week and his therapist wouldn’t be too happy to hear that he didn’t do what he was told. He popped an SSRI in his mouth and made a small toast to himself.  _ Here’s to something different, I guess. Cheers. _

Percy emerged from his room looking grim, repeatedly adjusting her tie and gloves. “Do you want to eat before you go?” he asked.

She shook her head. He reached out to touch her, but she shied away, instead throwing herself on the couch. His heart stung for her. “What do you think will happen?” she asked, eyes searching the ceiling.

“I don’t know, doll.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “A stern reprimand, maybe.”

“Do you think he’ll fire me?”

“I don’t know.” Would the sergeant really fire her? Her excellent track record only had the one slip-up. But it was a pretty big one. If he were going to fire her, wouldn’t he have done it the previous night? Or was he really cruel enough to make her wait in suspense and then fire her at their meeting?

“Only one way to find out,” she sighed. “I should arrive early anyway.” Standing, she limply pulled on her shoes then fiddled with her car keys. Her gaze shifted to various spots across the floor and she tugged at her shirt. Finally, she darted to Ramsey and threw her arms around him in a stiff hug.

He hugged her back, rocking her slightly from side to side. He wanted to tell her something comforting, but he couldn’t think of anything to fit the situation.  _ It’ll all turn out okay?  _ Of course he couldn’t say that. How could he know for sure? Empty affirmations were terrible anyway. He held her tighter, hoping that would be enough.

Gradually, Percy pulled away, letting her hands run down his arms with every step back she took. “I’ll see you later.” Her voice was cloudy.

“I love you.”

The corners of her lips stretched into what could be interpreted as a vague smile and she walked through the door as if marching off to her death.

Ramsey shivered. What could he do? Hope and pray maybe? Other than that, there was nothing. A fist squeezed at his heart. He hated that he couldn’t help her. He sat at his desk to work on his project just to keep busy, pleading with the universe that Percy would be alright.

***

Percy waited in the halls of the police station. Every sharp footstep fell harshly on her ears and she felt as if she were standing out too much, attracting unwanted attention although no one looked at her. Her chest was tight, lungs constricting, hardly able to breathe. Maybe 25 minutes early was overkill, but having the time to be alone and calm down was welcome. She would just have to accept whatever would happen. Just breathe and accept it.

It was her turn on the scaffold. She was next in line for the guillotine. Eros opened his office door and she walked in with her head held high. At the very least, she would be dignified in accepting her punishment.

Eros sat in his office chair and motioned for her to do the same in a cold folding chair. Resting his elbows on his desk, he eyed her over his clasped hands. “Detective King.”

Percy straightened.

His voice didn’t quite have the same creaminess to it. “A lot of things happened over these past few days. Things I don’t think we as the police force condone. Now, I know you’re a smart girl, so why would you do something so ill-advised? I want you to tell me the full story.” He leaned into a comfortable position in his chair, crossing his legs. “I’m your audience.”

She tapped her knees. If he wanted the truth, then she would give it to him. No more games. She took a deep breath and began. “When my partner and I went to search the Banzai hideout, I had every intention of following my orders. However, after analyzing the situation, I decided it would be better to take a separate course of action.”

Eros raised his eyebrows.

She continued firmly. “The report falsely accused those kids of theft when in reality, they were taking the jewelry back and returning it.”

“Ah, but how could you trust them? How did you know that was their intention and with what authority were they acting upon?”

“You see, there was a girl with them, one that I trust. She explained the situation to me and I learned that they possessed valuable information for the investigation, so I offered to work with them. They accepted my help without protest, proving we shared a common goal. They had only their own authority previously, but when they worked under me, they acted as an extension of my authority as an officer.”

Eros pulled off his sunglasses and held the earpiece between his teeth. “Maybe they weren’t guilty of  _ this  _ crime, but that kid was Giovanni Potage right? You know, wanted for the theft of the Arsene Amulet?”

Percy nodded. “Indeed. However, I weighed out the options and determined that to be the best one. If I arrested Giovanni, we would have lost the lead on the case. The Abbandonatos are guilty of far more egregious crimes, making their capture the more important target. Besides, didn’t I do something similar in Redwood when I chose to work with Ramsey?”

“Hm…” He pressed the pads of his fingers together, having replaced his shades. “Yes, I suppose so, although conman wasn’t exactly wanted at the time. He was already under the control of, who was it? Sherif Gorou? But you’re right about the mafia. Far more counts of theft, for one. Gang fights, public disturbances, dealing on the black market from way back. Oh, and that murder attempt that caused the police so much grief all those years ago.” He propped his feet up to the side on his desk. “That was our very own conman, wasn’t it? The kid that nearly got murdered?”

Percy twinged at the mention. “Yes.”

Eros stroked his mustache absent-mindedly, mulling it all over. “Mm… Things turned out well enough. We have all three Abbandonatos in custody. Can’t wait for the trials. It’s gonna be big, I’ll tell you. Headliner, easily front page material,” he said with a dramatic gesture. “And then after some long searching, we recovered the rest of the jewelry hidden away in that pawn shop upstairs. Too bad the warehouse is such a mess.” The man slid his attention back toward her. “But, we surely can’t have errant cops running around out there, doing whatever they want.”

Percy’s eyes stung and she lowered her head. There it was.

“So, I’ll let you off with a warning this time.”

“What?”

“What you did might have been morally right, but you kinda forgot about the legal part. So I’ll let you off with a warning. Next time, make sure you get approval before doing anything drastic.” He casually wiped off his shades on his shirt. “Next time, I won’t be so nice.”

Percy’s mouth fumbled with words. “Yessir, of course, sir. Thank you.”

Eros shrugged. “Yeah. Oh, and take these to your little friend,” he added, tossing a bag loaded with jewelry into her lap. It landed with a heavy  _ woomph _ . “I want everything sorted out on my desk by tomorrow morning.”

She couldn’t believe it. Shaking a little, Percy stood and saluted. “I won’t let you down!”

“I’m counting on it.” He began to idly skim over a case file. “Dismissed, and stay frosty.”

She took a step toward the door, but stopped herself. There was something she was forgetting, something she had to dig through her nervous mind to remember. Oh yes. “Actually,” Percy said, “if I can take a few more minutes of your time, I’d like to report a violation of child labor laws.”

Eros looked up again, a corner of his mouth quirking upward. “Oh really? Now  _ this  _ is interesting.”

***

The desk was cold and stuck to his cheek. It was done. Finally, the commission was done. He could ship it off and never have to look at it again. But for now, Ramsey just needed to chill for a bit. Having an art project in the background of everything happening multiplied his stress tenfold. Maybe with a few more commissions, he could finally afford a nice drawing tablet. He used to have one, but it kinda got taken away for restitution when he was incarcerated. Along with pretty much everything else he owned at the time. Except for all his old sketchbooks. Haha, real funny, tellin’ him his art was worthless, but hey, he was happy with it. He was never really the sentimental type, but he liked looking through his old art every once in a while.

Ramsey closed his eyes and scooted the sketchbook away, thoughts straying to Percy. She had been gone for nearly three hours and he wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. Well, it felt bad. He slumped over the back of the couch and stared out the window overlooking the parking lot, feeling his heart beat apathetically against the cushions. Maybe he should do something, like the pile of dishes in the sink. It was only, like, six plates or something. But he wasn’t really feeling up to it. So he waited. And breathed.

The slam of a car door kept him from dozing off. He leapt up, scanning the parking lot outside for a familiar police cruiser. There it was, and out of it popped Percy. She nearly lost her balance in her haste. She clutched a bag and a folder in her arms, nearly dropping them in her dash up the stairs. He flung open the door and Percy barreled into him with an unbreakable beam on her face.

Pure euphoria bubbled over in his chest. Is that what dogs felt like when their owner came home? “Percy, you’re back!” He took her shoulders, steadying her.

“Yes! And I have excellent news!”

“You didn’t get fired?”

“I didn’t get fired!”

“Hallelujah!”

She set her things on the couch, jumping up and down and flapping her hands. Stopping to give him a quick hug, she resumed her stimming with hardly a pause. “A lot of other things happened too!”

“No wonder you were gone so long,” Ramsey said, unable to hold back an amused grin. “Please, tell me of your grand adventure.”

She automatically switched to business mode, standing still in front of him. “First off, I explained myself to Eros and he let me off with a warning, then he gave me the rest of the jewelry that they recovered,” she said, gesturing to the bag on the couch. That looked like quite the job to do. “And then I explained Molly’s situation and you won’t believe what happened!” She picked up the folder and flipped through it, showing pages of instructions and information. Picking up a few of the words as they flashed by, Ramsey figured out it was about parenting. “Eros helped me out a bit and now I’m a licensed foster parent!”

“Woah, really?”

“Yeah! Usually the application process and background check takes a few weeks, but he sped it along for me! I just had to attend an orientation then an interview, which luckily was happening right then, and I’m already CPR certified, so now I just have to wait for a home inspection and I’ll be good to go!”

He cocked his head. “That’s great, but why?”

Percy’s eyes sparkled. “Oh yes, I haven’t told you yet.” She took a deep breath. “I’m going to foster Molly while her dad’s in prison.” At his confused look, she caught her breath and resumed her monologue. “And also, we went over to arrest Molly’s father for child labor, neglect, abuse, negligence, et cetera. Her sister is 19 and has the choice to take over the shop, but she can’t care for Molly, so I’m going to do it.” Percy’s face softened. “I hope that I can make her feel loved.”

Well, that was something he hadn’t expected. Molly’s grief stricken face came back to his memory. One so young cracked into so many pieces. That girl really did deserve more and he had a feeling that Percy would be just perfect for her. “You’ll do great,” he said, giving her a hug. “You’ve got a big heart.”

She hugged him back, tightly around the ribs, and snuggled into him. “I just wonder what I’ll do when school’s out. At her age, she’s required to be supervised at all times, but I’ll still be working.”

“Don’t you worry,” Ramsey said. “You can just drop her off at my place anytime you need. Dunno if CPS would be too thrilled with my criminal record, though.”

“ _ Past  _ criminal record. And I trust you, so they don’t have to know a thing.” After a moment, she spoke again. “I have to admit, I’m worried about her dad.”

Ramsey searched her face. “Her dad? Isn’t he a piece of literal human trash?”

“Well it’s… complicated.” Percy pulled away, walking in circles. “Molly put it more eloquently than I can, but he’s still a person. He’s misguided and does awful things, but Molly still wants a relationship with him. Like the one back before her mother passed away.” She sighed and shook her head. “But he’s just going to rot in prison for a couple months and then rejoin society as what? The same man? A further broken man? That’s no way to improve Molly’s situation.”

“True, true. Prison sure has a way of sucking the life outta you, I can tell ya that.”

Percy stopped and tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Ramsey, how much time have you spent in prison?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeesh, uh, I dunno. There was a little over a week from a month ago. Uh, a year and a half when I was 27. Then um…” He ticked off the months on his fingers. “December to September… So 10 months when I was 24. Oh, and also a few weeks in juvie when I was 15.” Saying it out loud was quite uncomfortable. Percy looked surprised. “So, what’s that? About two and a half years in total.” He was surprised himself. “Wow, that sucks. Can’t believe I did that.”

She cocked her head. “What was it all for?”

Ramsey withered up and died a little on the inside. He waved a hand, trying to translate his thoughts into words. “Oh, you know, forgery, but only the little projects. If they caught me on all the big stuff, I’d have gotten 20 years at the least. Actually, I think I was supposed to be in for 20 this last time, or at least that’s what the Redwood crackpot court determined. I think the well watcher was the judge… Uh, and then juvie. That wasn’t forgery. I didn’t know about my epithet ‘till I was 19, so that one was just for… behavioral issues.” Yeah, behavioral issues. Vague, but true enough. “A-anyway, what’s your point?” he asked, brushing it off.

“So, high rate of recidivism,” she muttered.

“Huh?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about Molly and her dad. His trial’s next week, and it got me thinking. I was just curious about your prison experience.” She tapped the sides of her legs with upturned eyebrows. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I’m not sure if it’s rude of me to ask.”

Not rude, but maybe a little awkward. It really threw in stark contrast how different their pasts were. Ramsey collapsed on the couch, waving off her concerns. “Nah, nah, it’s all good. I’ve got some stories, that’s for sure.”

Percy jumped on the couch beside him and began to idly rub the hem of his shirt. “What do you think would have helped you in prison?”

Ramsey shrugged. “If we had something better to do. Nothing made me miss school like prison did. Or if somebody cared. That would have been nice.”

“Go on.”

“Well back when I was 27, or maybe I just turned 28, we got this new cellmate. I was in for forgery, the other two guys were in for theft, but this new guy? He was in for second degree murder. I could hardly sleep, thinking I was gonna get murdered. But the guards didn’t care. To them, all dudes in orange jumpsuits were the same. Anyway, I read a lot of trashy romance novels at the time ‘cause I was lonely, and at some point the other guys got into a heated argument, so I thought it’d be a good time to return my library book. Not ten minutes later, I came back to see that the murderer had snapped one of the other guy’s neck. After that, I definitely didn’t sleep.”

Percy stiffened, then patted his knee. “That’s awful. What happened to the murderer?”

“Dunno, but as long as I never saw him again, that was good enough for me.”

Percy stayed silent, eyes staring off in the distance as if she were making notes in her head. “That’s good to know,” she said. “I have a few ideas about prison reform, so that’s good to know.”

Fascinating. He swore he fell harder for her every day. “You’re on a roll, helpin’ all the damaged people.” He reached for the bag of jewelry. “How about I work my way through these and you tell me about these ideas of yours?”

***

Two Months Later

***

Ramsey frantically smashed the buttons on his controller, but it was no use. Lucina exploded before falling into the infinite, unforgiving abyss. Isabelle stood triumphant, a wicked gleam in her innocent cartoon eyes. Dumb dog. He looked over at his opponent, who pumped her fist in the air.

“How many wins is that for me?” Molly asked with a smirk.

“Maybe I’d win more if you’d quit spiking me off the edge,” Ramsey said, giving her a nudge.

Molly giggled and punched his shoulder. “Maybe you’d win more if you didn’t suck.”

“Ah geez, kid. How’d you even afford this thing? You’re three times younger than me, but somehow three times richer.”

“Let’s just say that managing a store adds up when you finally get recognized for your work,” Molly said. She turned off the gaming system and set it in the charging cradle. “Aren’t  _ you  _ supposed to be the rich one? You can literally make gold.”

Ramsey set his blue controller on the coffee table. “First off, the cops wiped out my bank account when I was incarcerated. Second, I’m not supposed to do that anymore now that I’m dating a cop.”

Molly raised an eyebrow and snickered. “Wait, you’re dating a cop?”

“Actually, I dunno,” he said with a shrug. “Hey Percy, wanna be my girlfriend?” he called.

Percy was sitting at the kitchen counter, typing furiously on her laptop. Her hair was tucked behind her ears. She didn’t even look up from her work, but called back, “Sure!”

“Like I was sayin’. Dating a cop,” Ramsey said with a grin.

Molly folded her arms disapprovingly. “Well, you better treat her right. Whatever you do to her, I’ll do to you, pal.”

“Good thing I treat her with love and respect!” he said, flashing finger guns.

Molly pursed her lips, slowly nodding. “Mmm… Okay, you got me!” She giggled, giving him a hug, then ran to Percy’s side. “How’s it coming?”

Percy squinted at her screen, reading over her 40 page document. “It’s causing me a significant amount of stress considering my presentation is tomorrow. I mean, it’s done, but is it  _ really  _ done?”

Tomorrow. Just hearing about it made Ramsey feel uneasy, even though he wasn’t going to be the one presenting. He really hoped it went well.

“I’m sure they’ll love it, Percy. It looks great to me at least,” Molly said, hopping on a stool next to her.

“You must have read it over about 20,000 times by now,” Ramsey said. “Why don’t you take a break for a minute?” Heck, he’d read it about 10,000 times and it sounded great to him. Then again, he was too dumb to understand all of the legal jargon, but that probably meant that it was smart.

Percy’s skimmed over just a few words more before Molly shut the lid of her laptop. “Yeah, you’re gonna get eyestrain and end up like Fred.”

Molly had made good on her promise and dragged the kid to the eye doctor a while back, who now had contacts and clear vision. She still got to hang out with Giovanni’s clique, but since they were technically “villains” and all, Percy would only allow it as long as Molly promised to give a detailed list of their plans. No crime allowed.

“If you insist,” Percy mumbled. She slumped on the couch next to Ramsey with a sigh, rubbing her temples.

Ramsey put an arm around her shoulders. “Try to relax. You’ll do great.”

“I’m not so sure,” Percy said. “I got an A minus in my college speech class. It brought my GPA down to 3.99.”

Sheesh. Ramsey was pretty sure that he got a D in high school speech, bringing his GPA down to a lovely 2.3.

“Just think about all the people you’ll be helping!” Molly stood in front of them, swishing her skirt around. “Presentations are always better when you’re passionate!”

Percy nodded absently. “It has to be convincing enough to make people fund it and lobby for change.”

“You know what?” Molly said, dashing to the kitchen. She came back with a tupperware. “Have a cookie you guys! Giovanni and I made them the other day!”

Percy smiled and took one. “I suppose that confectionaries can lighten one’s mood.” She nibbled on the cookie pensively and Ramsey could practically see the wheels in her head turning. She paused and turned to him. “You know, you used to be a criminal, Ramsey.”

He nearly choked on his cookie. “Yes?”

“And you’ve reformed your life.”

“I don’t like where this is going.”

“Would you like to—”

“No no no no. Nope.” He suddenly wished that he spent the day alone in his apartment just to avoid the question. Eh, but not really, though. He still liked spending the day with his favorite cop and his favorite Smash Bros nightmare incarnate.

“You didn’t even hear what she was going to say,” Molly said, throwing out her arms.

Was the room getting hotter? Ramsey tugged at his collar. “I have a feeling I know what she was going to say.”

“Well, let me say it to avoid any miscommunication,” Percy said. “Ramsey, would you like to speak at my presentation?”

He sank. “But Percy, I have an anxiety disorder.”

“You have generalized anxiety, not social anxiety.”

“Wha—Well, that just means I’m scared of everything,  _ including  _ society.”

Molly clasped her hands together. “Aw, c’mon! It makes the whole thing seem more possible. I mean, you don’t just go to pitch a new product without a prototype!”

“Sheesh.” Ramsey took a minute to consider it, though. He could probably do it, it would just be horribly traumatic. “Well, I-I won’t be able to prepare anything in a day, that’s not enough time.”

“You don’t have to prepare anything special,” Percy said. “Just write down what you’ve told me. I could look it over and then you could read it off. It only has to be five minutes.”

“And I’m speaking, too!” Molly said. “We could be speaking buddies!”

He stayed silent, weighing it out in his head. There would be a lot of people there, and not just randos off the street. Important people with authority.

Molly slowly extended the tupperware toward him. “Would you do it for a cookie?”

“Hm.”

“Would you do it for  _ two  _ cookies?”

“Mm… Oh, okay, you got me,” he said, taking his two cookies. “Just don’t let me say anything stupid.”

Percy and Molly shared a grin.

***

_ Why did I agree to this? _ Ramsey thought. He stood in a dark hallway and glared at the index cards in his hands with a shiver. He kind of wished that he could have taken a benzo pill beforehand, but the prescription was only for one month, so he was out. He loosened his tie a little. Geez, the thing was choking him. Or maybe that was just the hyperventilating. He rocked back and forth on his feet.

“Are you alright?” Percy asked, tapping his shoulder.

Ramsey took another peek in the presentation hall. Hoards of people chatted pleasantly amongst each other, all nicely dressed. They were all police officers, public officials, lawmakers, and even a few nurses. Anyone considered a public servant was there. Heck, even the damn mayor was there. “No,” he choked.

“It’ll be alright,” she said. “Just read what you wrote and you don’t have to look up.”

“You make it sound easy,” he muttered. “Hey, what’s that thing you do with your hands? This?” He shook out his hands, feeling some of the nervous energy lessen.

“Yeah, that’s it,” she chuckled. “Loosen up.”

Molly smiled and did the same, her black dress swirling.

“Well, we’re on in five minutes,” Percy said. “We should take our seats.”

“Oh crap,” Ramsey said under his breath, but he straightened and shuffled behind Percy into the presentation hall. He looked over the crowd. That was a mistake. The hall was really long and the chairs seemed to stretch on forever. There had to be at least 200 or so people. Maybe waking up was a mistake. He kinda hoped that he would keel over and spontaneously die so that he wouldn’t have to speak.

A few people shook his hand and he numbly smiled and nodded along with their greetings. Molly elbowed him. “That one was the mayor,” she whispered.

“Oh shoot, really?” he hissed, looking over his shoulder.

Percy held a finger up to her lips then sat down. Front row, huh? Well, he guessed it would be awkward to walk to the podium from the back row. He sat, begging his heart to calm down. A few deep breaths did nothing. He rocked back and forth, feeling the eyes of the world boring into his back.

Someone stepped up to the microphone and started to speak into it after a few taps. The room fell silent as the woman said a couple things, things which Ramsey couldn’t focus enough to hear. Then finally, the woman introduced Percy. Percy strode to the podium, commanding the attention of everyone there. She adjusted her collar and shot a gaze at him before smiling out into the crowd. Geez, she was a natural.

“Thank you everyone for coming,” she began. She softly drummed her fingers on the podium. “Today I will be presenting my proposal for improving the prison system into a system that focuses on reform rather than punishment.” She glanced at them out of the corner of her eye and Molly flashed a thumbs up. “I have created a program that will take into consideration the needs of inmates with the proper resources to help each one successfully integrate into society upon their release.”

“Wow, she’s so smart,” Ramsey whispered.

Molly happily nodded in agreement.

Percy went over her entire plan to improve the prison system, going over numbers and pie charts and studies. She discussed the implementation, the specifics of the program, classes, therapy, work ethic, funding, resources, laws, and examples. It was all perfectly watertight. Ramsey looked over the crowd, all of whom were enamored. Whenever someone asked a question, Percy answered it without skipping a beat. She looked so confident up there, just bursting with charisma and enthusiasm. Ramsey was really proud of her.

Eventually, Percy took her seat to the sound of applause and then it was Molly’s turn. She had to stand on a box to reach the microphone. She beamed at the audience, hardly phased. How could she just  _ do  _ that? She talked about her family life and how her dad was sentenced to 13 months in prison with a $10,000 fine and how much she cared about him even though he had done awful things.

“Sitting around in prison won’t do anything for my dad. He’s suffered and he’s caused suffering. More than anything, I’d like to see him grow and change, learning the error of his ways instead of merely being punished for it.” Molly pushed some of her hair out of her face and bravely wiped a tear from her eye. “One day, I want to have a loving relationship with him again, and I think that Percy’s proposal will provide him with the reform he needs to become a good person.” As the audience clapped, she bounded from the podium and took her seat beside Percy.

“Nice job, kiddo,” Ramsey whispered.

“Thanks. You’re up.”

Ramsey’s mouth went dry. Was he shaking? Yup. Could everyone else see him shaking? Probably. He stood up, feeling stiff. Without thinking, he walked to the podium with his eyes trained on the floor. It felt like a public execution. He groped for his flashcards, finally pulling them out of his pocket. This was a very big mistake. Adjusting the microphone, he searched his brain for what he was supposed to do. Oh yeah, read the cards. Was the pause too long and awkward? He had lost all concept of time, so he wasn’t sure.  _ Just loosen up and read. _

He shook out his hands and took a deep breath. “Hel—h—hello.” Crap, that sounded supremely stupid and everyone was staring at him. It sounded even worse since his voice was being amplified across the room. “Um…” He wanted to die. From the sidelines, Percy smiled and motioned to keep going. Molly flashed the OK hand sign. Ramsey gulped and tried to smile.

“So, some of you might recognize my face from wanted posters and newspapers. I mean, it’s a pretty hard face to forget.”

The audience collectively chuckled.  _ AAAH MY SELF-DEPRECATING JOKE WORKED! _ he thought. It made him feel a little better. Confident, maybe? Imagine that. In fact, he felt confident enough that he looked out over the audience. Oh no, that was a monumental mistake.  _ ABORT, ABORT!  _ he screamed at himself, but he was left paralyzed, mouth hanging open. There were a lot of people. How the hell did he ever think he could do this?

From the edge of one of the rows, he spotted a raised thumbs up. He followed the arm down to the face. It seemed familiar… He squinted. It couldn’t be. No mistaking it, it was  _ the  _ nurse. Her dreadlocks were now streaked with gray, but she still had the same kind face. She caught his eye and winked. He could remember the taste of the chocolate milkshake.

Ramsey straightened and glanced back at his notes. Staring at a point slightly above the audience, he began again. “Hello. I’m, uh, Ramsey Murdoch. I’ve been convicted of forgery and embezzlement, so I’ve been in and out of prison a few times. As you can imagine, uh, that kinda sucks.” He realized that he wasn’t smiling, so he tried it. Probably looked more like a nervous grimace, but he figured it would be fine. At least Percy was smiling back. “But, I’ve since turned things around and reformed my life. Here’s my story.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huzzah! Thanks for reading! This is definitely the longest thing I've written by far and it's been a wild ride. And as always, thanks for your wonderful comments you glorious internet people!


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